
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the value of the country’s agriculture and fisheries output fell by 2.2 percent to P1.725 trillion in 2024, which is the lowest in eight years, blaming unfavorable weather conditions and pests.
The PSA data also showed that the combined value was the lowest since the P1.722 trillion recorded in 2016 and also 2.2 percent lower than P1.76 trillion in 2023. Additionally, the rate of decline in the value of the agriculture and fisheries production last year was the steepest since 2000.
The Department of Agriculture attributed the decline to the effects of extreme weather conditions as well as pests and diseases last year, resulting in cumulative losses of P57 billion in the sector. At least 1.4 million farmers incurred P57.78 billion in losses after 2.18 million metric tons of production was damaged by El Niño, typhoons, volcanic eruptions, pests, and diseases.
“This is one of the biggest losses that the agriculture sector has recorded ever for a given year,” said Agriculture Assistant Secretary and spokesman Arnel de Mesa.
University of the Asia and the Pacific – Center for Food and Agri Business executive director Marie Annette Galvez-Dacul agreed with the DA that El Niño and La Niña disrupted the country’s agricultural production last year. She added that the persistence of transboundary animal diseases such as African swine fever impacted livestock production while the closed fishing season in the fourth quarter affected fisheries output.
Whatever the reason, a significant drop in the country’s agriculture and fisheries sector should be a cause for worry for the government, which has to learn the lessons quickly and put in place measures and programs that can mitigate the threats and risks that affected the sector last year.
The calendar may have changed, but the threats of unfavorable weather and disease will continue to affect the country’s agriculture, unless nothing is done. If our productivity is going to improve, our farmers, fishermen, and government will have to learn the lessons that can be gleaned from every year.
Hopefully this year will prove that the famed Filipino resilience involves more than just being able to take the pain, but also learning and adapting to prevent it from happening again.*