ILOILO City – The agriculture, forestry, and fishing (AFF) sectors of Western Visayas (Region 6) posted a positive growth of 6.2 percent last year from its .5 percent performance in 2019, sharing 19.9 percent to the region’s economy.
“Region 6 has the fastest growth rate in AFF among the regions in the country,” said Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Western Visayas regional director Fred Sollesta on Thursday.
However, the region’s economy in 2020 contracted by 9.7 percent from its 6.3 percent growth in the previous year.
Meylene Rosales, Western Visayas regional director of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), said in terms of monetary value, Western Visayas still ranks as the fifth-largest economy among regions outside of NCR. Based on growth rate the region ranked 11th among the regions in the country.
According to Rosales, the growth of the AFF could be a signal for the government to apportion more resources to the agriculture sector as it serves as the “saving grace” during this time of the pandemic.
“Agriculture stood out. So to me, it is just my opinion, it is now high time that we take a look at our agriculture sector. Although this is not to say that we have not been paying attention to the agri sector but what is needed is to add more,” she added.
She hopes the agriculture sector will be given a bigger budget in 2022 to help farmers and fisherfolk, prop up their contribution, and translate to a higher production level.PNA/PN
