Agriculture hopes to grow 3% in last quarter
The Department of Agriculture hopes to achieve three percent growth for the fourth quarter
This was highlighted by Agriculture Secretary William Dar during the yearend press conference in Quezon City on Thursday.
"What is the potential growth of this sector this quarter? I said considering the factors that are going to improve level of productivity and income, plus of course factors that have slowed down to some degree the contribution of agriculture... I said it will be between 2.5 to 3 percent," he said.
"So there are (a) few days left we hope that our estimate (growth) will be on that level," he added.
Dar said agriculture grew by 2.87 percent in the third quarter.
"The 2.87 percent growth is a manifestation of the hope and the confidence that again the pubic much more the farmers and the fishers are doing their best, " he said.
"We are hopeful that this favourable condition will be sustained in this 4th quarter," said Dar.
“The agriculture sector is a sleeping giant. But with the right policy, the right mechanisms, this sleeping giant can become the force by which more contribution to the gross domestic product will happen,” he added.
Dar also emphasized that the outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) in the country is "tempering down."
"There was a good graph by (Bureau of Animal Industry officer-in-charge ) Dr. Ronnie Domingo. I don’t know if this has been shown to you but the graph shows that the outbreak is now tempering down or decreasing down its decreasing, it’s a good sign that the occurrence of outbreak is decreasing," he said.
Dar said this was discussed during the meeting of the National Task Force on ASF on Wednesday.
He said also discussed was a zoning plan to control and contain the hog disease.
"Related to that zoning plan, we have signed an administrative circular (on that)", Dar said.
"Based on what we discussed yesterday, it clears that longganisa, hotdog and tocino will not be allowed to trade from Luzon to Visayas and Mindanao. Only fully cooked canned processed pork products will be allowed through the zoning plan," he said.
Dar said under the zoning plan, "the Regions I, II and V are declared as protected zones or the light green (while) Region 3 and 4A are surveillance zones or the yellow (and) Bulacan and Pampanga are the infected zone this is the red. They can only send their products in the infected zone so only within the two provinces."
"Visayas, Mindanao and Mimaropa regions are considered as free zones. It is green, it means they can send product anywhere in the country," he said. Robina Asido/DMS
