The country’s cassava output in the first quarter rebounded and recorded a year-on-year increase of 0.26 percent, the latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.
PSA data obtained by the BusinessMirror indicated that cassava output in the January-to-March period rose to 515,455.56 metric tons, from last year’s 514,227.73 MT. Output in the first quarter of 2019 contracted by 5.6 percent year-on-year, from 544,753.24 MT recorded in 2018.
Figures from the PSA also showed that sweet potato production grew by 3.76 percent to 116,520.11 MT, from 112,294.92 MT last year while ampalaya output rose 4.52 percent year-on-year to 32,323.34 MT.
Onion production during the period expanded by 7.33 percent to 163,664.67 MT, from 152,483.34 MT, while mongo output rose by 6.04 percent to 8,629.99 MT, according to PSA data.
However, preliminary PSA data showed that potato output during the three-month period fell by 2.47 percent to 23,131.19 MT, from 23,716.57 MT.
Eggplant production shrank by 6.36 percent to 75,400.92, from 80,524.99 MT, while tomato output declined by 1.13 percent to 94,215.35 MT, from 95,295.61 MT, PSA data showed.
The production of other vegetables and root crops, which include pechay, cauliflower and gabi, grew slightly to 381,318.38 MT, from last year’s 379,264.55 MT, PSA data showed.
PSA data also indicated that production of calamansi in the first quarter fell by nearly 11 percent year-on-year to 13,311.30 MT while mango output declined slightly to 94,068.98 MT, from 94,916.02 MT recorded in 2019.
Pineapple production during the three-month period also fell by 0.76 percent to 76,663.17 MT, from last year’s 77,250.78 MT.
Local watermelon output in the first quarter expanded by 7.44 percent to 70,123.53 MT, from the 2019 record of 65,269.05 MT, PSA data showed.