Agriculture grew 4% in 1st qtr

Philippine agricultural output grew at a faster pace of 4.0 percent in the first quarter as compared with 3.3 percent in the same period last year, buoyed by production increases in the crops and poultry sub-sectors.

As the period's biggest gainer, the crops sub-sector, which accounted for 49.48 percent of the total agricultural output, expanded 5.59 percent, boosted largely by increases in corn and banana production.

Rice production, however, grew only 1.96 percent to 3.75 million metric tons, before milling, in the first quarter due to delays in harvests.

The Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) had forecast rice production growth in the first quarter at 9.5 percent to 4.02 million metric tons before milling.

"What we see is a delay in the harvest due to a cold spell, which lingered until March," Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said. "There was a hit in the production of Region 2 [Cagayan Valley] and the Bicol area. But these areas have already been replanted and we expect results by the second quarter of the year."

BAS Director Romeo Recide said the damaged areas were estimated at 100,000 hectares.

Yap added that another problem was that farmers were too choosy with the hybrid seeds they wanted to use. "If they didn't find their brand, they opted to go back to certified seeds and there lies the discrepancy in the figures," he said.