Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. said Thursday that efforts of the Department of Agriculture (DA), as directed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., are helping drive growth in the agriculture and fisheries sector, whose production value in the third quarter rose 2.8 percent, based on official government statistics.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said the growth was mainly driven by stronger rice and poultry production, which together accounted for about two-thirds of the sector’s total output.
At constant 2018 prices, PSA said the value of agriculture and fisheries production reached P408.94 billion, up 2.8 percent year on year. Crop production, which made up 53 percent of total output, rose 3.0 percent to P218 billion. Palay output surged nearly 13 percent, driving overall growth, while corn production fell 2.9 percent. Total crop volume was estimated at 15.25 million metric tons, up 1.5 percent.
“Clearly, we are heading in the right direction. Every quarter we are seeing improvement…So we must be doing something right,” Secretary Tiu Laurel told reporters. “Of course, we have fairly good weather this year and that is also helpful.” The DA chief said he is hopeful that like sugar production, palay output could set a new record harvest this year.
The DA chief acknowledged the weak performance of the livestock sector, citing lingering disease-related challenges such as African Swine Fever and Avian Influenza. But he noted that vaccines expected to become commercially available soon, along with the DA’s repopulation plans, could help the sector recover.
He added that the poor fisheries catch was anticipated because of last year’s El Niño.
Poultry production continued its recovery, climbing 11 percent to P75.96 billion and accounting for 19 percent of total agricultural output. Chicken production rose 12 percent, while egg output grew 7.7 percent, pushing total poultry volume up nearly 11 percent to 785,100 metric tons.
In contrast, livestock output remained weak. The value of livestock production fell 1.9 percent to P60.51 billion, with volume down 1.6 percent to 514,390 metric tons as hog output slipped 1.4 percent, still affected by ASF.
Fisheries also declined, with the value of production down 2.7 percent to P54.47 billion and volume contracting 7.5 percent to 894,320 metric tons. The drop was largely due to a 15.7 percent decline in seaweed production.
Barring major weather disruptions in the last quarter of 2025, Tiu Laurel said he remains optimistic that the agriculture and fisheries sector will recover fully from last year’s contraction caused by the combined effects of El Niño and La Niña. Except for the first quarter, when the sector posted 0.5 percent growth, contractions averaged over 2.2 percent in the last three quarters of 2024.
