The growth of the agricultural sector will continue to impact the economic growth of Mindanao, said a top official of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA).
“Remember, 60% of Mindanao’s GDP is related to agriculture so any improvement or progress noted in the agriculture brings up all other sectors in Mindanao particularly services,” MinDA deputy executive director Romeo Montenegro said during Wednesdays @ Habi at Kape – Abreeza.
Based on the data released by the Philippines Statistic Authority (PSA) last week, the updated growth rate of Mindanao in 2017 was 7%, while it grew by 7.1% last year based preliminary estimates.
Montenegro said the growth of the island was “still well within our projection of 6.5 to 7.5 percent.”
In the first quarter of 2019, the performance of Philippine agriculture grew by 0.67%. while Mindanao Mindanao recorded a significant growth of 0 .9% in 2017 and 2.5% in 2018. In the Davao Region, the sector was the third biggest contributor with 10.6, while services and industry were at 49.3% and 40.1%, respectively.
“Even while the national agriculture performance slid down, Mindanao’s agricultural growth went up,” said Montenegro.
Based on government estimates, Mindanao contributes about a third of the agricultural production of the country.
Because of this, the national government has always tagged the island as its food producer, but Mindanao leaders both in business and in government have been appealing for equitable share from the national budget for the realization of the goal in making Mindanao the biggest food producer of the country.
