With only 0.8 percent growth, agriculture contributed just 0.1 percent to the gross domestic product (GDP) expansion last year. It grew 0.67 percent in the first quarter of 2019, accounting for a paltry 0.1 percentage point of GDP growth.The Department of Agriculture (DA) has presented to the Cabinet’s Economic Development Cluster (EDC) a three-pronged approach to make the underperforming agriculture sector contribute significantly to GDP growth in 2019.

Emmanuel Piñol, agriculture secretary, said during the presentation the DA’s three-pronged plan of action covers productivity enhancement interventions for major crops such as rice, corn and sorghum; regulatory and support activities for the poultry and livestock subsectors; and livelihood and safety interventions for the fisheries subsector.

“This whole program now has to be translated into higher growth for 2019,” Dominguez said as he convened the EDC last Tuesday to determine the DA’s catch-up plan for the second to fourth quarters of 2019.

Piñol said he expects the full implementation of programs under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, as provided in the Rice Tariffication Law, to significantly contribute to the growth of agriculture by the first quarter of 2020.

For the rest of 2019, Piñol said DA’s catch-up plan for the crops subsector involves the early distribution of certified seeds to palay growers tilling a combined 2.2 million hectares of land. The DA is also distributing fertilizers in areas with sufficient irrigation covering 42,902 hectares in time for the harvest season in the second semester.

With an expected rice production increment of one metric ton (MT) per hectare, these 42,902 hectares of land planted to palay is valued at P729.3 million, Piñol said.

Seeds and fertilizers will also be distributed to corn and sorghum growers, while an expansion area of 100,000 hectares each. Production of corn is expected at around 600,000 MT valued at P9.1 billion and of sorghum, 400,000 MT at P6 billion.

Piñol He also cited the adoption of new plant varieties to protect top fruit exports such as bananas and mangoes from diseases, and expanding vegetable farming in some 50,000 hectares of land in Mindanao.

For poultry and livestock, Piñol has proposed importing 300,000 MT of corn at zero tariff to be sourced from countries free of the African Swine Fever, for delivery September to October, the bulk harvest season of the second semester.

Piñol also plans to establish four dairy farm complexes, each housing 6,000 dairy cows  with an estimated 36 million liters of milk production valued at P1.4 billion.

In the fisheries subsector, the DA will help set up 300 fish cages per region using funds from the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund Lending Program. This project is estimated to produce 96,000 MT of fish valued at P9.98 billion.