The country’s agriculture sector has failed to meet all expectations for the year, even the much lower growth projection Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol has made just a few weeks ago. A review of the sector’s performance recently done by the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Management Council (MANCOM) showed Philippine agriculture and fisheries only went up by 1 percent last year. This was not only lower compared to the nearly 4 percent growth the sector has achieved in 2017. A 1 percent growth is also not anywhere near the DA’s target for 2018, which has been revised a couple of times.

Miraflor, M. B. (2019, January 11). Agriculture sector falls short of all projections. Manila Bulletin, p. B1.