Tuesday, August 19, 2008 Agri posts P577 billion income By Joy Romares-Sevilla
A TOTAL of P577 billion was the gross value of the Philippine agriculture output during the first six months of the year, the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) reported.
The value was 23.23 percent higher than last year of the same reference period.
The increase was attributed to the crops subsector, which recorded the significant expansion in gross earnings with a total of P321.5 billion.
BAS said the total gross value of the crops subsector grew by 32.24 percent from last year's level.
The increase in both production and prices of palay, rice, banana, abaca, coconut, rubber, and pineapple has contributed to the increase of gross value of the crops subsector.
In terms of production, agriculture likewise grew by 4.7 percent during the first six months of the year. The crops subsector, again, posted the highest production output expanding to about 7.72 percent compared to last year of the same period.
This was followed by the poultry subsector with 5.65 percent production growth, and fishery with 2.74 percent increase.
The production output of the livestock subsector, on the other hand, declined during the period by 3.33 percent. The subsector shared a total of 11.67 percent to the total agriculture output. (JGRS)
