Agriculture and fisheries production, which accounts for about a tenth of the gross domestic product, shrank 2.6 percent in the third quarter from a year ago, the Philippine Statistics Authority said Monday.
“This was due to the drop in crops, livestock and fisheries production. Meanwhile, poultry recorded increment in production,” the PSA said in a statement.
Data showed this was the fourth consecutive quarter that the sector ended in the red, following the 1.5-percent decline in the second quarter, 3.4-percent drop in the first quarter and 3.8-percent slide in the fourth quarter of 2020.
The sector also registered a decline of 2.5 percent in the first three quarters, which was worse than the 0.2-percent drop in the same period last year.
Crop production, which contributed 54 percent to the total agriculture and fisheries production, contracted by 0.2 percent from July to September. Rice production increased by 6.7 percent, while corn output declined slid 18.6 percent.
Livestock, which accounted for 15.3 percent of the total agriculture and fisheries production, recorded a 15.2-percent reduction in output. Hog, the major contributor for livestock production, decreased by 17.8 percent.
Poultry production grew by 1.3 percent, while fisheries slowed down 0.4 percent.
The PSA said that at current prices, the value of production in agriculture and fisheries amounted to P446.46 billion in the third quarter.
Meanwhile, the PSA said the second-quarter GDP growth rate was revised upward to 12.0 percent from the preliminary estimate of 11.8 percent. Major contributors to the revision were the growth rates in education, from 10.0 percent to 12.6 percent; financial and insurance activities, from 4.2 percent to 5.2 percent; and construction, from 25.7 percent to 27.1 percent.
The growth rate in net primary oncome (NPI) from the rest of the world recorded a downward revision from -53.8 percent to -54.4 percent. Meanwhile, the growth rate in the gross national income in the second quarter was also adjusted from 6.6 percent to 6.8 percent.
The PSA will release the third-quarter GDP figures Tuesday.