Rice led the growth of crops in 2023

The 0.4 percent growth of the agriculture sector in 2023 was driven mainly by rice, poultry and the livestock sector, according to data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority on January 31.

The value of agriculture and fisheries production rose to P1.76 trillion versus its level in 2022 of P1.757 trillion.

For the last quarter of 2023, the value of agriculture and fisheries production increased by 0.7 percent to P493.73 billion.

The crops sector, which comprised the bulk of the production or 56.8% pushed up the value of production by 0.7 percent or P1 trillion.

Of this palay accounted for P406 billion, increasing from P399.98 billion recorded in the previous year.

The PSA also said that the poultry sector posted the largest growth among sub-sectors last year, rising by 3.8 percent to P262 billion. It accounted for 14.9 percent of the total value of production.

Chicken accounted for the bulk of the poultry output, registering a production value P181 billion.

The livestock sector followed with a production value of P263.4 billion, up 2.5 percent from the previous year. It accounted for a 14.9 percent share of the value of production.

This was driven by hog production with a production value of P214.6 billion

However, the fisheries sector declined to P236 billion from P252.7 million in 2022 with a 13.4% share in the value of production. Bangus production was highest in this subsector with P36.65 billion.