NEDA: Agri sector in CV remains slow

Despite the good performance of some sectors of the economy in Central Visayas, the economic planning agency said the agriculture industry continued to show sluggish growth which could affect the region’s growth.

The region’s farm output last year fell sharply by 3.02%, down from 6.74% growth in 2013. Production growth of agriculture’s sub-sectors all plunged, except for livestock which slightly grew by 0.15% last year from a growth of 0.08% in 2013.

Fisheries posted a double-digit drop of 14% in 2014. Production of crops and poultry dropped by 2.6% and 1.03%, respectively.

National Economic and Development Authority-7 Director Efren Carreon expressed concern on the double-digit decrease in fishery output, saying this explains the rising prices of fish in the market.

Carreon said only the poultry industry especially in Bantayan Island was fast to recover from disasters although it still recorded a slight drop in production.

According to NEDA, agriculture contributes about 8% to the regional economy. While industry and services account 36% and 56%, respectively.

Carreon explained the farm sector’s contribution to the region’s economy is “very critical and strategic” considering that many of the poor households are working in the sector. He said: “We are concerned that if this [slow growth] will continue, poverty will also rise.”

OTHER SECTORS

NEDA-7 also reported the sectors that performed well last year were construction, retail trade, information technology and business process outsourcing, tourism, foreign trade and banking.

Data from the National Statistics Office said new construction projects -- both residential and non-residential -- in CV in 2014 grew 27% to 12,386, amounting to about P22.6 billion. That value is 43% higher than in 2013.

“Approximately 70% of the new construction projects were residential-type buildings. Residential construction accounted for 58.7% of the aggregate value,” NEDA-7 stated in an economic update.

It added: “Bohol registered the most number of new residential projects with 4,283 or an increase of 73% from 2013. While the volume of new residential projects in Cebu declined by 27.5%, the Province of Cebu posted the highest increase (approximately 127%) in terms of value.”

For foreign trade, NEDA said many of the region’s export sectors had better performance relative to past years, noting “the furniture sector for instance reported return of orders” and fashion accessories did also perform good.

“The food and beverage sector also enjoyed robust growth in 2014 because of strong demand for these products in the world market,” the agency noted, saying some players in the sector had maximum gains of 15%.

However, local exporters whose main market is Japan may have realized lower gains in 2014 because of the declining value of Yen.

Furthermore, direct employment of IT-BPM sector in the first half of 2014 reached 65,303, already exceeding the 51,962 recorded in whole 2013.

In tourism, the region’s foreign and domestic tourist arrivals last year rose 16% to 4.03 million from 3.5 million in 2013.

The regional NEDA is projecting an economic growth of 8-9% for Central Visayas for 2014. Full-year economic growth data for the region is expected to be released in July.

The agency has targeted a regional economic growth of 9.7-11.9% for this year and 10.1-12.5% for 2016. —