PHL output of staple crops up in 2023–PSA
LOCAL planters managed to increase their output of rice and corn—the country’s staple crops—despite higher input costs, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Figures released by the PSA showed that palay or unmilled rice production in 2023 reached a record 20.06 million metric tons (MMT). Output last year was 1.56 percent higher than the 19.756 MMT recorded in 2022.
Data from the statistics agency showed that rice output in 2023 was boosted by irrigated farmlands which produced 15.279 MMT, 2.2 percent higher than the 2022 volume of 14.938 MMT.
In contrast, the output of rainfed farms fell to 4.779 MMT from the previous year’s 4.817 MMT.
The Philippines also produced more corn last year, according to PSA data. The combined output of yellow and white corn reached 8.405 MMT, higher by nearly 2 percent than the 8.255 MT recorded in 2022.
Output of yellow corn, which is used for animal feeds, rose by nearly 5 percent to 6.367 MMT, from the 2022 volume of 6.088 MMT.
However, white corn production last year fell by almost 6 percent to 2.037 MMT, from 2.166 MMT recorded a year ago.
Rice and corn bolstered the performance of the crops subsector last year, based on data from the PSA.
Crop production amounted to P1 trillion in 2023 and P290 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023. It posted a growth of 0.7 percent in 2023 and 0.1 percent in the last quarter of last year.
The crops subsector managed to eke out gains despite elevated fertilizer and oil prices last year. The government had given out subsidies to planters to help them cope with the spike in the prices of inputs.
Data from the PSA also showed that livestock’s output was valued at P263.374 billion last year and P72.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023. It grew 2.47 percent in 2023 and 2.7 percent in the October to December period.
For poultry, the value of production at constant 2018 prices reached P262.028 billion last year and P67.65 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023.
PSA data showed crops accounted for 58.7 percent of the total value of production in agriculture and fisheries; livestock, 14.6 percent; poultry, 13.7 percent; and fisheries, 13 percent.
The value of agriculture and fisheries production amounted to P1.763 trillion in 2023 and P493.72 billion in the fourth quarter of last year.