DA eyes focus on palay, fish subsectors to attain '2-3-4' growth scheme

As an attempt to halt the downfall of its sector, the Department of Agriculture (DA) will focus more on its sub-sectors of palay and fish products, as they are the frontrunners of the said industry.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar disclosed the remark as he stated the economic downfall that the agriculture sector is facing.

"There is a continual downward trend of the share of the agricultural sector to GDP for the period 2000 to 2019 where its average contribution to GDP is approximately equal to 11.6%," Dar spoke in a meeting held Feb. 27-28.

"The sector’s share to GDP decreased by 6.2 percentage points in the same period," he added.

Dar, being appointed as DA Secretary last year, promised to target the '2-3-4' agriculture growth rate, wherein 2, 3, and 4 percent annual rise is aimed under his 3-year term.

Moreover, the secretary earlier expressed that "to be able to better plan for the future, we need to learn from the past," stating the flopping statistics of the agriculture sector.

From the performance summary of the Agriculture, Hunting Forestry, and Fishing (AHFF) industry, the annual growth rate from the 2008-2018 period is 1.7 percent, with rates of poultry, sugarcane, cassava, and pineapple, and agriculture exceeding more than 2 percent.

On the other hand, fishing, along with coffee and mango, faced growth deficits, which negatively impacted the GDP of the whole sector, as fishery accounts for nearly 19 percent of its total.

Along with fishery's deficits, DA also pointed out the natural phenomena that has heavily affected the agriculture sector, such as the Typhoons Ondoy and Pablo in 2009, and the El Niño in 2016.

"To better appreciate the productivity performance of each of the commodities/activities over the last 20 years, we have further clustered them to clearly illustrate how their growth performance fared," Dar stated.