Agriculture and fisheries output in the Philippines fell 5 percent in the third quarter of 2026, to 389.42 billion pesos at constant 2018 prices from 410.04 billion pesos a year earlier, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported. The agency called it the sector's weakest third quarter in 11 years.
Crops caused most of the fall. Crop output, just over half of all farm production, dropped 9.3 percent to 197.71 billion pesos. The production value of palay, the unmilled rice that is the country's staple, fell 17.8 percent, and corn fell 17.4 percent. Fisheries output declined 8.5 percent to 50.86 billion pesos.
Livestock and poultry were the only subsectors to grow, by 1.1 percent and 4.9 percent, to 61.17 billion pesos and 79.67 billion pesos respectively. Together the two were worth 140.84 billion pesos in the quarter, a little over a third of the sector, and their growth was not enough to offset the losses in crops and fisheries.
The Department of Agriculture blamed higher costs of fertiliser and other inputs together with flooding from the southwest monsoon, known locally as habagat, which upset planting decisions and cut harvests in rice and corn areas during the quarter. The department did not name individual flood events or provinces.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the government had prepared a 62 billion peso response plan to protect production and farmers' incomes from the expected effects of a possibly severe El Niño. He said the plan rests on three elements: deploying farm technology, targeting help at the worst-hit areas and better coordination between national and local agencies that support farmers.
The figures reverse the modest growth of the same quarter in 2025, when crops and poultry offset weaker livestock and fisheries. This year rice and corn, the crops most exposed to both monsoon floods and input costs, pulled the whole sector into contraction.
Photo: IRRI Images / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Source: Global Agriculture
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