THE Department of Agriculture (DA) is drawing up a blueprint for a number of its subsectors to ensure they will contribute to the 4 to 5 percent growth rate being targeted by the department for this year.

This after the DA has hinted that some crops like corn, coconut, sugar cane, banana and the hog subsector may register a slower growth rate for the first quarter of this year.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap said his department is already conducting a comprehensive assessment of all farms and fisheries subsectors if their respective expansion rates are on track to meet the 4 percent to 5 percent growth target for the entire farm sector this year.

To ensure that the DA’s growth target is on track, Yap has instructed officials to come up with blueprints that target growth rates for all subsectors will be met in the second quarter of this year.

The DA has earlier vowed to focus on constructing more farm-to-market roads and providing more postharvest and storage facilities as well as increasing its investment in research and development.

To ensure that the government will be on track in achieving its rice self-sufficiency goal, the DA has announced it will invest some P3.1 billion this year to repair and rehabilitate old irrigation facilities servicing 55,000 hectares of farm lands.

Yap has earlier expressed confidence that the DA will be able to achieve its growth target for 2007 based on expectations that first quarter growth will be strong.

The DA has projected that paddy rice production for 2007 would grow by almost 6 percent to 16.2 million metric tons (MMT), from the 15.3 MMT produced last year.

Production of corn—considered one of the country’s major food crops — is expected to hit 6.31 MMT, or almost 3 percent higher than the 6.14 MMT produced last year.

The fisheries subsector, which has been propelling farm sector growth in recent years, may post a double-digit growth of 10 percent this year.

The Bureau of Agricultural Statistics is expected to release official figures on the first-quarter performance of the country’s farm sector next week.

THE Canadian mining firm TVI Resource Development Philippines Inc. will soon start exploration in Jose Dalman, Zamboanga del Norte, after the tribal council of elders of the Subanen in Tamarok finally agreed to allow mineral exploration in their ancestral land.

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) is drawing up a blueprint for a number of its subsectors to ensure they will contribute to the 4 to 5 percent growth rate being targeted by the department for this year.

DAVAO CITY—The government wants the country’s mango exports to increase by 15 percent over the next three years, propped up by a national expansion program and a subsequent rise in per capita consumption of the fruit among Filipinos.

AN OPPOSITION congressman said Wednesday that Malacañang had itself to blame for the dismal revenue collection during the first quarter of the year, which saw the government missing its target revenue collection by at least 7 percent.

Mr. Macaraig was a taxi driver living on P500 a day. Aside from worsening traffic, high maintenance costs and occasional rarity of customers, the soaring price of gasoline has kept him from getting the most out of his trips and taking home a larger pay.