MANILA: Agriculture is expected to post another record growth in the second quarter of the year due to the introduction of new markets as well as the upward trend in the world prices of prime agricultural products.
“The performance of Philippine agriculture and fisheries is expected to improve further in the second quarter of 2017 from an impressive first quarter growth of 5.28 percent as new markets were opened and the world prices of prime products showed an upward trend in
Coffee, cacao, rubber and corn, commodities which are traded internationally, posted increases in prices in the world market in the latest report,” said Emmanuel Piñol, secretary of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Piñol said the country’s aggressive marketing campaign and the access to non-traditional markets for agriculture and fisheries products like Russian and the Eastern European bloc are expected to contribute further to the growth of the sector.
On Thursday, the Russian Federation, represented by Agriculture Minister Alexandr Takchev, and the Philippine government, which I represented, signed the Agreement on Agriculture and Fisheries Cooperation between the two countries. Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier committed to President Duterte that Russia will allocate an estimated $2.5 billion to buy Philippine products over the next 12 months,” Piñol said. Russia will buy bananas, coconut products, pineapple, coffee, cacao and mango.
Piñol also said Hungary is keen on buying more agriculture and fisheries products from the Philippines, especially tropical fruits.
“Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto specifically mentioned mango as among his favorite Philippine agricultural products during a bilateral meeting with the Philippine delegation which I headed in Budapest on Monday, May 23. Foreign Minister Szijjarto also offered a 20-million euro grant for the study on the clean-up of Laguna Lake and Manila Bay and a stand-by credit facility of €510 million for private sector borrowers in the Philippines to strengthen his country’s ties with the Philippines,” he added.
Other countries covered by the marketing campaign are Romania, Poland, Czech Republic and Finland.
“These new markets, including the traditional and recently expanded markets of Japan, China and South Korea, are expected to further boost the performance of the Philippine agriculture and fisheries sectors,” Piñol explained.
Aside from the new markets and overall better global market prices, the agri chief cited the launching of a nation-wide campaign against illegal fishing, the observance of closed fishing season and the launching of the inland waters fisheries program; the crafting of a five year program to increase cattle population by one million heads over the period; and the creation of a ten year road map for the backyard hog and poultry industries to contribute in his hopes for a growth in agri performance this quarter.
It can be recalled that the country’s agriculture output declined by 2.34 percent in the second quarter of 2016 caused by the prolonged dry spell that greatly affected the production of the crops and fisheries subsectors.