Philippines: Ag sector grows 6.27% in Q3, farmer income by 3.68%

The agriculture sector grew 6.27 percent in the third quarter this year compared to the same period last year, with farmers’ income rising 3.68 percent from July to September.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol, citing an official report from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), said the agriculture sector also grew 4.64 percent in the first nine months of the year compared to the same period in 2016.

Photo by Russel Delvo, Special Prize Winner, 1st DA National Photography Contest

Farmers’ incomes for the first nine months likewise rose 4.19 percent compared to the same period last year, the DA Secretary added.

Pinol said that most notable in the sector’s performance in the first three months was the 14.17 percent growth in palay (unmilled rice) production during the third quarter of the year, which contributed to a 7.2 percent growth for the entire crops sub sector for the first nine months of 2017.

Crops accounted for 46.89 percent of total agricultural production in this period, the PSA said in its report.