BAGUIO CITY – The Cordillera office of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA-CAR) reported for the first semester of 2016, total livestock production increased by 4.5 percent but the poultry sector declined by 3.3 percent.
In 2015, agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing contributed 9.5 percent to the total Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) of the region at constant 2,000 prices. Of the total agriculture output, 14.3 percent was shared by livestock sector and 5.5 percent in the poultry sector.
The PSA-CAR noted the region’s total carabao production during the first semester of 2016 was 1,418 metric tons, up by about 1 percent over the previous year’s level of 1,404 metric tons, citing that higher demand for carabeef was observed during the period which might be attributed to election-related activities.
Further, higher carabeef production was reported in Apayao with a share of 27.3 percent followed by Abra with 24.8 percent.
The PSA-CAR added cattle production in the region for January to June 2016 was estimated at 2,023 metric tons and was 2.7 percent higher than the previous year’s output of 1,969 metric tons and the increase was attributed to higher demand due to election-related activities with Abra having the biggest share in total production at 35.5 percent.
Moreover, the PSA-CAR bared hog production posted a 5.2 percent increase for the first semester of 2016 from 12,041 metric tons in 2015 to 12,667 metric tons last year with Kalinga and Abra being the major producers of hog in the region contributing 24.4 and 22.3 percent to the total hog production, respectively.
Goat production for the first semester of 2016 in the region was pegged at 429 metric tons which increased by 5.1 percent compared to the previous year’s output of 408 metric tons with Abra being the major producer of goat during the period with 60.6 percent contribution.
For the first semester of 2016, the PSA-CAR claimed hog contributed more than three-fourths of the total livestock production while cattle, carabo and goat production shared about one-fourth of the total output at 12.2, 8.6 and 2.6 percent, respectively.
On the other hand, the PSA-CAR cited total volume of chicken production during the first semester of 2016 was estimated at 3,470 metric tons which dropped by 2.9 percent over the previous year’s level of 3,575 metric tons and the decrease was attributed to the lesser supply of day-old chicks to broiler contract growers in Ifugao.
At the PSA-CAR stated chicken egg production for the first half of 2016 was 1,744 metric tons which was lower by 5.9 percent against the level during the similar period the previous year which was at 1,853 metric tons with Ifugao contributing the highest production with a share of 42.1 percent, followed by Benguet with 24.7 percent.
According to the report, the total volume of duck production for the first semester of last year was pegged at 410 metric tons which increased by 4.1 percent as compared to the level during the similar period the previous year which was at 394 metric tons with Ifugao and Kalinga being the major producers of duck with a contribution of 41.5 and 39.0 percent, respectively.
For duck egg, the volume of production dropped by 2.2 percent or from 406 metric tons in 2015 to 390 metric tons in 2016.
The PSA-CAR reported chicken production dominated 59.9 percent of the total poultry output in the region during the first semester of last year while duck production came next with 27.9 percent contribution while chicken egg and duck egg both had a share of 6.1 percent each.
By HENT