Agriculture moves forward post-El Niño, La Niña

Braving the 'perfect storm'

- By JASPER EMMANUEL ARCALAS

Farmers and fishermen are used to storms. But not to a "perfect storm."

This is how Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel describes the myriad challenges the agriculture sector faced and braved through this year.

From extreme weather conditions such as El Niño, La Niña and series of typhoons, to volatile food prices and global supply chain disruptions, Filipino farmers and fishermen experienced them all this year.

The year also marked the first anniversary of Tiu Laurel as the country's agriculture chief. And he himself told the Department of Agriculture that he is not satisfied with his performance given the various challenges the sector faced.

"My personal assessment, I would say, is not that great. But of course there are really many challenges this year," he said.

The country's agriculture and fisheries output contracted by 2.2 percent from January to September as farms reeled from the ill effects of extreme weather conditions.

Domestic palay harvest alone fell by 7.5 percent year-on-year during the nine-month period to 11.86 million metric tons from 12.82 million MT recorded volume in the same period last year.

Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. (PCAFI) president Danilo Fausto estimated that full-year agriculture and fisheries output this year might contract by two percent as a result of the ill effects of the extreme weather conditions.

Meanwhile, University of Asia and the Pacific Center for Food and Agri Business (UA&P-CFA) executive director Marie Annette Galvez-Dacul estimated that full-year agriculture and fisheries' gross value-added (GVA) could decline between one and two percent.