Economic Performance. In 2008, the country’s Gross National Product (GNP) grew by 6.17 percent. In terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the economy registered a 3.84 percent expansion. Agriculture and fishery sector, which contributed 18 percent to the GDP, posted a 3.23 percent growth.

Employment and Wages. There were 34.09 million employed persons in 2008. This translated to an employment rate of 92.6 percent. About 12.03 million persons were employed in the agriculture sector and they represented 35 percent of the country’s employment. In nominal terms, the average wage rate received by palay farm workers in the first half of 2008 was P 209.03 per day while corn farm workers were paid P 170.31 per day.

Agricultural Support Services. The 2008 government expenditures for the agriculture sector stood at P 43.03 billion, lower by 28.34 percent from the previous year’s record. Agricultural loans in 2008 reached P 419.89 billion, up by 20.19 percent from the 2007 level. About 46 percent of these loans were granted for production purposes. The proportion of the irrigated service area to total potential irrigable area increased to 48.62 percent in 2008. This was 46 percent in the previous years.

Production Performance. Production of palay in 2008 was up by 3.54 percent while corn production grew by 2.84 percent. Coconut and sugarcane recovered from previous year’s slump and recorded output gains of 3.14 percent and 19.64 percent, respectively. Other major growth contributors were banana and pineapple.

Production increases were posted by carabao at 2.53 percent, cattle at 0.97 percent and goat at 1.91 percent. Hog production declined by 1.60 percent. Chicken and chicken egg production expanded by 5.76 percent and 4.68 percent, respectively. There were output reductions of 7.65 percent for duck and 9.66 percent for duck eggs.

Commercial and municipal fisheries posted more than 2.0 percent increment each in production. Aquaculture recorded an 8.71 percent increase in output.

Prices. On the average, prices received by farmers for their produce increased by 17.46 percent in 2008 from previous year’s levels. Prices of cereals were up by 21.50 percent. Specifically, the price gain in palay was 25.23 percent while it was 22.13 percent for white corn and 5.17 percent for yellow corn. Vegetables and legumes registered the highest price increments which averaged 44.40 percent. Poultry products indicated 4.86 percent growth in prices. On the other hand, prices paid by consumers for food, beverages and tobacco items went up by 12.90 percent in 2008

Agricultural trade. The country recorded agricultural export earnings of US$ 3,889.30 million in 2008. This was 22.77 percent higher than the previous year’s level. Coconut oil and fresh banana remained the country’s top agricultural exports with a combined share of 37.18 percent. Most of the shipments of coconut oil went to the United States of America and the Netherlands. France and Japan were the major destinations of fresh bananas.

Agricultural imports valued at US$ 7,684.74 billion in 2008, up by 56.25 percent from the 2007 expenditures. Rice remained as the leading import item in 2008 followed by wheat and meslin. The major suppliers of rice were Vietnam and Thailand while the bulk of wheat and meslin originated from United States of America .