FARM output fell in the third quarter, with bad weather and swine fever outbreaks having led to contractions in the crops, livestock and fisheries sectors.

The value of agricultural and fisheries production, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Wednesday, fell to P397.4 billion in July-September from the previous quarter's P414.4 billion and the year-earlier P412.7 billion.

The 3.7-percent drop worsened from the second quarter's -3.2 percent and -0.2 percent recorded a year ago.

The result will have weighed on economic growth for the period, data for which will be released by the PSA today.

Economists polled by The Manila Times expect gross domestic product growth to have slowed to 5.7 percent from 6.4 percent in the second quarter, below the government's 6.0- to 7.0-percent target for 2024, mainly due to subdued public and private spending.

Year to date, farm output was valued at P1.24 trillion, down 2.2 percent slightly from the P1.27 trillion in January-September 2023.

The Department of Agriculture cited adverse weather and the outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) as major contributors to the contraction in output.

Crops, which accounted for the bulk, or 53.2 percent, of total production, fell by 5.1 percent to P211.6 billion. The decline improved from the second quarter's -8.6 percent, when the sector's output hit P220 billion.

Palay (unmilled rice), the country's biggest crop, saw output fall by 13.3 percent to P72.97 billion. Bananas, in second at P38.93 billion, contracted by 1.1 percent.

Sugarcane accounted for the biggest drop of 83.8 percent at P392 million.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the combined effects of El Niño and La Niña had weighed on palay production, which had an 18.4-percent share of total output during the quarter.

"We're implementing changes to the rice cropping calendar and building infrastructure like water impounding dams to mitigate the impact of climate change on the farming sector," he said.

Livestock, with a 15.5-percent or P61.6-billion share of total output, recorded a 6.7-percent dip for the latest quarter as hog, goat and carabao production fell by 8.0 percent, 4.1 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.

These offset the 6.0-percent and 0.9-percent gains seen for dairy and cattle.

Poultry was the only commodity group that posted an increase in the value of production, growing by 5.8 percent. It accounted for 17.3 percent of total output at P68.6 billion.

Production gains were recorded for chicken eggs (6.6 percent) and chicken (6.0 percent), but duck and duck egg output fell by 3.2 percent and 5.7 percent, respectively.

The value of fisheries output, lastly, dropped by 5.5 percent to P55.48 billion and accounted for 14.0 percent of overall farm production. Losses were recorded for the majority of the monitored species, led by grouper (lapu-lapu) which saw the biggest drop of 31.9 percent.

Of the five species that posted gains, bigeye tuna grew the most by 40.1 percent.