In the face of some hard hitting typhoons last year, 2012 still managed to see overall agricultural production increase by 2.9 percent, largely on the back of strong outputs in rice and corn.
As reported in the Manila Standard Today, Agricultural Secretary Procesco Alcala is claiming rice production went up by 8.3 percent last year while corn grew by about 6 percent. Secretary Alcala credited government policies incentivizing early rice planting as integral in the effort to boost production.
Despite impressive showings in these two areas, the government ultimately fell short of it’s growth target of 3-5 percent in the total agriculture sector. Agriculture accounts for roughly one-fifth of the total Filippino economy.
