Crop production in the Philippines declined by 0.9% in the second quarter of 2023 compared to the previous year, while fish output decreased by 11.3% year-on-year.
The decline in crop and fish production, however, was slower than the previous year's contraction.
Corn, sugarcane, rubber cuplump, and sweet potato output contributed to the decline in crop production.
Fisheries production recorded a volume of 1.08 million metric tons, down from 1.2 million metric tons in the same period last year.
Skipjack, milkfish, seaweed, fimbriated sardines, and yellowfin tuna showed annual decreases in production.
Livestock production increased by 0.6%, with hog production being the main contributor to this growth.
Poultry output saw a 1.5% increase, driven by a significant rise in chicken production, which accounted for 70.2% of poultry production.
Crop, fishery output posts slower decline
In second quarter
At a glance
The Philippine crop and fish productions contracted in the quarter ending June, albeit at a slower pace than recorded in the previous year.
The country’s crop and fish outputs declined by 0.9 percent and 11.3 percent, respectively, in the second quarter of 2023, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.
However, this was lower compared to 17 percent decline recorded in the same period last year, according to the preliminary data released by the statistics agency.
The volume of crop production was registered at 17.9 million metric tons, down from the 18 million metric tons recorded in the same period a year earlier.
The annual decline in crop production during the quarter can be attributed to the decreases in the output of corn (0.8 percent), sugarcane (11.3 percent), rubber, cuplump (8.5 percent), and sweet potato (7.5 percent).
For fisheries production, the industry posted a volume of 1.08 milion metric tons, down from the 1.2 million metric tons output in the same quarter a year ago.
The PSA said this decline is driven by the annual decreases in the production of skipjack or gulyasan (49.2 percent), milkfish or bangus (19.1 percent), seaweed (4.9 percent), fimbriated sardines or tunsoy (42.2 percent), and yellowfin tuna or bariles (23.2 percent).
Meanwhile, the production of livestock saw an increase in growth to 540,560 metric tons, up by 0.6 percent from 537,370 metric tons recorded in the same period a year ago.
Hog production was the top contributor to this increase, which grew by one percent yearly.
Poultry output also experienced an increase in the second quarter which generated 680,500 metric tons or up by 1.5 percent from the previous year’s 670,590 metric tons.
This, according to the PSA, can be attributed to the increase in chicken output which posted a 70.2 percent share of poultry production. (Xander Dave G. Ceballos)