It appears now that there is nothing to crow about Catanduanes’ placing second among 81 provinces in terms of economic performance in Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (AFF) in 2022 although it is indeed proof of the island’s resiliency.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) clarified last week that the 15.8 percent growth rate of the province in the AFF sector for 2022 is mainly due to the recovery of the farming and fishery industries after the devastation wrought by super typhoon Rolly in late 2020 that carried over to 2021.
In an interview with the Tribune last week, PSA Catanduanes Chief Statistical Specialist Anavi Camacho said that the high growth rate was expected as the same AFF sector suffered a huge 43 percent nosedive in 2021.
It may be recalled STY Rolly ravaged the southern part of the island on Nov. 1, 2020, causing a staggering P5.8 billion damage to infrastructure and agriculture.
A partial report at the time stated that agriculture sustained P1.65 billion in damage, with the abaca industry accounting for P1.3 billion in lost revenue.
Abaca production alone suffered a notable decline due to the typhoon’s effects from 25,580.98 metric tons in 2020 to just 14,814.71 MT the following year.
In 2022, the abaca fiber production partially recovered at 21,900.84 MT but still 14 percent short of the 2020 figure.
Data collected by the PSA Catanduanes Provincial Statistical Office showed that palay production slao suffered a downturn in 2021 at just 23,376.93 MT, compared to the 27 MT harvested in 2020.
Local palay farmers just managed to slightly improve production in 2022 to 24,809.56 tons.
Production of lasa (tiger grass), vegetables and root crops as well as non-food and industrial crops also went down for a year after the 2020 typhoon but managed to recover handily in 2022, even topping the 2020 harvests.
Last week, the PSA issued a report on the 2022 economic performance of provinces and highly urbanized cities in regions outside the National Capital Region particularly on Gross Value Added (GVA) of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (AFF).
It defined GVA as the value of output less the value of intermediate consumption.
In terms of GVA of AFF, the province of Tarlac recorded the fastest growth of 17.9 percent in 2022 relative to the other pilot provinces and HUCs, followed by Catanduanes, La Union, and Bulacan, with 15.8 percent, 10.2 percent, and 9.6 percent growth, respectively.
Moreover, top 10 economies with fastest growing AFF in 2022 recorded growths faster than the national growth rate of 0.5 percent, the PSA reported, with no HUC was included in the top 10 fastest-growing GVA of AFF.
In terms of the share in the GVA at the national level, Bukidnon accounted for the largest share of 7.0 percent in 2022. This was followed by Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, and Pampanga, with 4.5 percent, 3.8 percent, and 3.5 percent shares, respectively.
In the Bicol region, Catanduanes accounted for only 2.6 percent of the GVA in Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing, lowest among the six provinces.
Camarines Sur has the highest share at 43 percent, followed by Masbate (15.7%), Albay (15.3%), Camarines Norte (12.8%) and Sorsogon (10.6%).
In terms of actual peso value, Catanduanes had a GVA of P2.36 billion in 2022, compared to the P39.5 billion of Camarines Sur.
In an initial PSA report late last year, Camarines Sur accounted for 33.4 percent of the total economy of Bicol Region, followed by Albay and Masbate with shares of 24.9 percent and 13.7 percent, respectively.
Sorsogon, Camarines Norte, and Catanduanes accounted for 12.8 percent, 10.3 percent, and 4.9 percent of the region’s economy.
In terms of growth rate, all economies in the region expanded in 2022, with Sorsogon recording the fastest growth of 12.2 percent, followed by Camarines Sur with 8.6 percent. These two provinces recorded growths faster than the region’s economic growth of 8.1 percent.
Meanwhile, Masbate, Albay, Camarines Norte, and Catanduanes posted growths of 7.3 percent, 6.8 percent, 6.6 percent, and 6.0 percent, respectively. (Figure 2)
The recent PSA press release covers the results of the Provincial Product Accounts (PPA) of the 16 pilot regions outside the National Capital Region (NCR), covering 82 provinces and 17 Highly Urbanized Cities (HUCs) from November to December 2023. The PPA is a mechanism to compile the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at the subnational level.