Agriculture expanded in the first nine months of the year in spite of the calamities that hit the country starting in late September.

Citing the latest report by the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS), Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said the palay and corn subsectors grew even as climate change took its toll on farming areas in the fourth quarter.

He credited the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) for providing water where it is needed and added the use of hybrid and in-bred seeds raised output. Areas planted to these crops also expanded.

Year-on-year palay harvests increased 2.9 percent to 10.9 million metric tons (MMT) while that of corn rose 0.76 percent to 5.59 MMT.

The increase in the areas planted to white and yellow corn, changes in planting schedules and improved weather conditions and availability of seeds in Mindanao led to the growth of the corn subsector during the first nine months, Yap said.

"The higher price of palay in the third quarter also encouraged more plantings," Yap said, citing the BAS report.

Among the other gainers in the crops subsector were tobacco, which posted a double digit growth of 12.25 percent, banana, which increased by 4.01 percent, cassava, which posted a 6.33 percent hike, tomato at 2.6 percent, coconut at 2.24 percent and peanuts at 4.14 percent.

Livestock recovered from its slump last year by expanding 1.95 percent, mainly due to increase in hog production which was up by 2.22 percent, while the poultry subsector registered a 3.46 percent gain.

Fisheries expanded 3.28 percent, with aquaculture growing by 4.5 percent and commercial fisheries by 3.75 percent, Yap said.

BAS director Romeo Recide reported that from January to September 2009, agriculture managed to increase production by 1.50 percent, "indicating a slowing down in the sector, which was largely due to the adverse impact of weather disturbances.”

"During the last quarter, July to September 2009, agriculture grew by 1.55 percent, which was about half the growth rate posted by the sector last year," Recide noted. "Crops, livestock and poultry registered output increases, albeit slower than last year's records. However, the fisheries subsector came down with production cuts."

"Across the country, the main reason cited was reduced fishing efforts, because of weather disturbances. In the case of commercial fisheries, other than reduced fishing efforts, limited fishing was noted in South Cotabato because of the ban on the use of fish aggregating device which was imposed by Western and Pacific Conference on fisheries during the spawning period of tuna in August and September," he said.

From January to September 2009, the gross value of agricultural output amounted to P849.3 billion at current prices or 1.62 percent higher than last year's record.

Gross output of the crops subsector, which registered a 0.15 percent drop in output this year, was valued at P450 billion at current prices, 1.77 percent lower than last year's level.

Livestock grossed P138.4 billion, representing a 4.89 percent jump from last year, while poultry amounted to P100.3 billion, up by 11.38 percent.

The fisheries subsector was valued at P160.6 billion at current prices, or 3.18 percent higher than the previous year's record.