Agriculture will perform better in 2025 after being hounded with high fuel and input costs, drought, floods due to La Nina and disruptions in the value chain this year.
Agriculture output in the second quarter declined 3.3 percent.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) in a statement yesterday said “lessons learned from recent challenges should push the agency to do a better job next year.”
DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said these challenges tested the DA’s mettle in fulfilling its mandate of ensuring food production is sustained.
Tiu Laurel said after a record rice harvest and creation of over half-a-million new jobs in 2023, the positive trend continued in the first half of the year with the sector adding 8.5 million tons of palay and 3.7 million tons of corn to its harvest.
Tiu Laurel cited the significance of actions taken against illegal activities in the agricultural sector in addressing food security.
“Even before Congress passed the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act, the Department, through the Inspectorate and Enforcement Office, took action against smugglers, resulting in the seizure of hundreds of millions of pesos worth of illegally imported goods,” Tiu Laurel said.
The DA said crackdown on smuggling, profiteering, cartels, and hoarding would only intensify with the passage of the new legislation.
Tiu Laurel said the DA will continue implementing measures that combat diseases affecting the poultry and livestock industries.
Moving forward, the agency stressed the need to continuously adapt to the challenges posed by climate change and of evolving technology.
In 2023, agriculture production value went up by 0.4 percent.
Meanwhile, the DA said the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) has initially estimated an indemnity of P93.8 million to compensate farmers in three regions for damage caused by Super Typhoon (ST) Julian.
Jovy Bernabe, PCIC president, in his report to the DA said a total of 10,781 insured farmers of rice, corn, and high-value crops from the regions of Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Ilocos and Cagayan Valley will be indemnified.
“We need to immediately indemnify our farmers to restore their financial health so they can quickly recover from this calamity. Fast-tracking the release of their insurance claims will foster confidence in the PCIC among our farmers and encourage more investors in agriculture,” said Tiu Laurel.
Of the farmers insured with the PCIC, 6,585 are from Ilocos, 2,355 from CAR and 1,841 from Cagayan Valley.
Based on latest data from the DA’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Operations Center, as of October 7, cost of damage to the agriculture sector due to ST Julian was at P607.38 million
The DA attached agency said the cost of damage is equivalent to 25,407 metric tons (MT) of goods tended by 33,110 farmers and fisherfolk in 17,344 hectares of affected areas.
