Agri dep’t affirms positive outlook for poultry; less confident on rice, corn, pork performance

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) said it expects poultry production to do the heavy lifting in the third-quarter agriculture output data due for release today, though it expects pork, corn, and rice data to reflect the “challenges” faced by those industries.

“We’re praying that the results will be good, but of course we know the challenges. We’re cautiously optimistic about the result of the third quarter,” Agriculture Assistant Secretary Arnel V. de Mesa told reporters on Wednesday ahead of the data due to be released on Friday by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

According to Mr. de Mesa, “poultry is always a consistent subsector. It does not decline. So, hopefully it will continue to rise.”

In the second quarter, the value of production for poultry was P79.84 billion, up 6.3% year on year.

Mr. de Mesa said rice, corn, and pork production are expected to reflect the “challenges” like high fertilizer, feed, weather disruptions, and high fuel costs.

The PSA reported that seasonally adjusted corn output for the third quarter dropped 21.3% to around 1.67 million metric tons (MMT) compared to the previous quarter.

It also reported that palay (unmilled rice) output decreased 18% year on year in the third quarter to 3.08 MMT. The DA estimates a 1 MMT drop in full-year palay production in 2026.

The drop in palay productivity is linked to high fertilizer costs, erratic weather patterns, and low confidence among farmers in making their planting decisions.

In an earlier briefing, Mr. de Mesa cautioned that expectations about farm production need to be “realistic.”

“Even if production results do not increase, hopefully they did not drop really low,” he said then. — Maria Mikaela H. Tormon