CV agri production drops 9.9% in 2012

CEBU, Philippines - The agriculture sector in Central Visayas took a downturn in 2012 after posting a remarkable performance in the previous year, which registered a 9.9 percent drop in terms of agricultural production for the year.

Latest report released by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA-7) indicated that the dismal performance of the crop subsector, which accounts for more than 80 percent of the sector’s output, and the continued poor showing by the fishery sector largely contributed to the inferior performance of agriculture in the region in 2012.

In 2011, the agricultural output in the region grew by 31.4 percent.

The crop sector saw total output dropping by 11.4 percent in 2012 following dismal performances from corn, vegetables and industrial/commercial crops.

Only palay and fruits posted positive growth in outputs but these were not impressive enough to pull up the sector.

Palay production increased by only 1.3 percent in 2012 against the 19.4 percent in 2011. Fruit production was also up by a mere 2.1 percent, lower than the 4.5 percent growth registered in the previous year.

Production of corn had been down for most of 2012, except in the second quarter. A major contributory factor to the lower output could be the almost three percent drop in the area planted to corn.

In Cebu, several corn farms were planted to cassava instead of corn as a result of the contract  growing program of San Miguel Corporation. There were also corn farmers in the region who simply shifted to planting other crops such as mongo, camote, eggplant, spring onions, patola, and cucumber.

In Bohol, particularly in Dauis and Panglao, land conversion contributed to the reduction in the area in the province planted to corn.

Vegetables and industrial/commercial crops posted the biggest drop in output. Vegetable production in Central Visayas went down by 10.7 percent while industrial/commercial crop production fell by 14.5 percent.

Harvest of sugarcane, which is a major industrial/commercial crop of the region, dropped by 17.7 percent as a result of lesser use of fertilizer in sugarcane plantations in Negros Oriental.

The Province of Negros Oriental was also hit by a major typhoon and a devastating earthquake that affected production.

In Cebu, the early harvest of sugarcane in the fourth quarter of 2011 led to lower production levels in the first semester of 2012. There had also been no sugarcane harvest in Cebu in the third quarter of 2012.

Meanwhile, the fishery sector failed to recover in 2012 as total output continued to contract. Fishery production in Central Visayas was down by 1.5 percent following a poor performance by aquaculture, the biggest contributor to the region's fishery output.

Aquaculture production fell by 1.2 percent in 2012. This was a reversal of its performance in the previous year where output grew by 4.7 percent.

Aquaculture production for the whole year was affected by poor production in the first half of 2012 as low demand discouraged fishermen from increasing output. In Negros Oriental, there was a low demand for groupers from tourists.

There was also a depressed demand for oysters in the region during the period. In Cebu, production was affected by rehabilitation works done on some brackish-water fishponds in the province.

Seaweed farmers also saw a drop in production as the presence of the bacteria epiphytes in seaweed farms in Bien Unido and Talibon, Bohol stunted the growth of the seaweeds in the area.

Livestock and poultry were the only sectors in agriculture that realized gains in production in 2012. Sustained demand for livestock and poultry products by local households, food manufacturers, restaurants/ resorts in the region as well as from other regions helped drive up production. /JMD (FREEMAN)