Manila: The Philippines remains on track to achieving its food security targets under the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. despite various calamities in 2024, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said Tuesday. In an interview, DA spokesperson Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa stated that this was made possible through the government's intensified recovery efforts in the agriculture sector despite a challenging year marked by the combined effects of the El Ni±o phenomenon, La Ni±a, successive typhoons, Mt. Kanlaon eruption, African swine fever (ASF), and bird flu.
According to Philippines News Agency, the agriculture, forestry, and fishing (AFF) year-on-year growth accelerated to 2.2 percent for the first quarter of 2025, from 0.5 percent for the same period in 2024. The DA official noted that this is nearing the government's 3 percent agriculture growth target within Marcos' term. The main drivers of AFF growth are poultry and egg production, with 9.4 percent growth; followed by sugarcane and muscovado sugar at 19 percent; palay (unhusked rice) at 1.1 percent; support activities to AFF at 2 percent; and other animal production at 3.8 percent.
Other contributors include annual increases in fishing and aquaculture, other crops, banana, tobacco, coffee, pineapple, cacao, rubber, and cassava. De Mesa highlighted that the sector's growth is on track to meet the targets before the end of President Marcos' term, despite the challenges faced in previous years. The first quarter's increase nearly resembles the growth set at 2.3 percent for the same period in 2023, and is higher than 0.18 percent in 2022.
De Mesa underscored the Marcos administration's focus on irrigation to further boost local production. He noted that the expansion of irrigable areas, which increased by 44,000 hectares since last year, has been beneficial. For 2025, the DA is optimistic about reaching a record palay harvest of 20.46 million metric tons (MMT). Continuous improvement of irrigation systems across the country is expected to drive growth in corn and high-value crops.
Meanwhile, de Mesa mentioned that the DA continues to intensify efforts to address the impact of ASF in the hog sector, which saw a -2.3 percent growth decline for the first quarter of 2025. The DA-Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) is actively rolling out government-controlled vaccination among healthy and ASF-negative hogs using AVAC live vaccines, while awaiting commercial approval from the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA). Stringent border measures are also in place to prevent ASF spread nationwide.
As of July 11, there are 28 barangays in six provinces in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Central Luzon, Central Visayas, and Caraga with active ASF cases. This number is significantly lower than the almost 600 affected barangays or active ASF cases in the country during the second half of 2024.
