Agriculture production for 2017 would still register an expansion of 5 percent to 6 percent despite the damages caused by Typhoon Urduja (international code name Kai-tak) in some provinces, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Urduja damaged nearly P370 million worth of crops, but Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said he remains confident that full-year farm production would still grow by 5 percent to 6 percent.
“The damage report as of the morning of December 19 reached P369.94 million. [The figure] is not much compared to the damages caused by previous typhoons,” Piñol told reporters in an interview on Tuesday. “I don’t really think it will pull down the growth of the agriculture sector.”
Piñol said the DA expects a bountiful harvest in the fourth quarter, especially for rice, which would boost growth during the period.
“Crops in Biliran are just on the vegetative stage. There will be no effect in the supply and we are already expecting a bountiful harvest this year,” he said.
Based on initial reports of the DA, Urduja damaged 7,880 metric tons (MT) of crops planted in 25,348 hectares. The typhoon affected rice, corn, high-value crops, livestock and poultry in Regions 5 and 8.
The bulk of damages, or about 77 percent, was recorded in the rice sector. Losses incurred by rice farmers reached P286.08 million.
The total affected rice area was 23,717 hectares, equivalent to 8.1 percent of the total standing crop of 291,746 hectares in the two regions.
The lackluster performance of the livestock and fisheries subsectors slowed the expansion of the country’s farm output in the third quarter, based on the latest data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
In its quarterly report, titled “Performance of Philippine Agriculture,” the PSA said farm-production growth in the July-to-September period settled at 2.32 percent. In the same period last year, output expanded by nearly 3 percent. From April to June 2017, the farm sector grew 6.18 percent.
Paddy production
Favorable planting conditions could drive the country’s unmilled-rice production in marketing year (MY) 2017-2018 to reach 19 million metric tons (MMT), 2.43 percent higher than the 18.549 MMT recorded in MY 2016-2017, according to a Global Agricultural Information Network (Gain) report.
The Gain report, which was prepared by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service in Manila, said the figure is also 6.87 percent higher than its earlier forecast of 17.778 MMT.
“Increased output is expected as a result of favorable weather conditions and increased use of high-yielding varieties,” the Gain report, titled “Philippine Grain and Feed Situation and Outlook” read, which was published on Wednesday.
“There were noticeably fewer intense typhoons that passed through major rice production areas compared to previous years,” it added.
The Gain report noted that the delay in the passage of a law that would allow the tariffication of rice imports would prevent some farmers from planting other crops.
Earlier, Gain reports published this year indicated that the removal of the country’s quantitative restriction on rice would displace some rice farmers.