The agriculture sector grew 1.9 percent in the first quarter of 2025, led by stronger crop, poultry and fisheries output, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said Wednesday.
The growth signals a recovery for the sector, which contracted by 1.6 percent in 2024 and by 1.8 percent in the final quarter of the year.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. welcomed the sector’s improved performance, attributing the rebound to favorable weather and the Department of Agriculture’s intensified interventions.
“We are optimistic that the recovery in the first quarter signals momentum for the latter half of the year—especially as we bring new infrastructure online such as cold storage facilities and rice processing systems,” he said.
The PSA reported that the value of agricultural and fisheries production reached P437.74 billion at constant 2018 prices in the first three months of 2025, up from P429.62 billion a year earlier.
Crops, poultry and fisheries posted year-on-year growth, offsetting the continued weakness in the livestock subsector.
Crop production rose 1 percent, led by rice and other staples and accounted for 57 percent of the total value of production.
Palay production edged up to 4.7 million metric tons from 4.69 million MT last year. Average yield reached a record 4.09 metric tons per hectare, the highest since the PSA began monitoring in 1987, which helped compensate for the decline in rice-planted areas and reflects improving efficiency among rice farmers.
Poultry was the best performer, jumping 9.4 percent to P75.22 billion with a share of 17.2 percent of total agriculture output, while fisheries grew by 1.5 percent to P55.10 billion, contributing 12.6 percent to the entire production values.
Livestock output fell by 2.8 percent to P57.82 billion as hog farmers continued to struggle with ASF-related disruptions. The subsector which accounted for 13.2 percent of the total value of production, needs more support from the government, Tiu Laurel said.
“Hopefully, we could also begin later this year the commercial rollout of the long-awaited vaccine for African Swine Fever, which will help kickstart the DA’s large-scale hog repopulation effort,” he said.
Higher food production has also helped temper consumer prices. A drop in rice prices, along with slower increases in the cost of vegetables, fruits and poultry, contributed to a sharp decline in inflation, which eased to 1.4 percent in April, its lowest level since November 2019.
