The value of production in agriculture and fisheries at constant 2018 prices posed a slight growth of 0.05 percent year-on-year growth to P428.99 billion in the first quarter of the year, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Wednesday.

The modest growth was attributed to the increase in the value of poultry production, which rose by 5.9 percent to P68.76 billion during the said period.

The increases were seen in the production of all poultry commodities, including chicken, chicken eggs, and ducks, except duck eggs.

This contributes to 16.0 percent of the total value of production in agriculture and fisheries.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) said that this helped balance the contraction in the value of crops, fish, and livestock produced during the quarter.

According to Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr., the government's interventions and assistance allowed the agriculture sector to 'fare better this time compared to periods in the past when we had El Niño.'

"The impact of reduced rainfall and hotter temperatures were evident in lower crops and fisheries production in the first quarter," he said.

"If El Niño will persist through the second quarter, we're cautiously optimistic that the interventions we have taken will allow the agriculture sector to mend and return better results between April and June," Laurel added.

Contractions in the value of production were seen in crops, livestock, and fisheries.

The crop production, estimated at P247.04 billion, posed an annual reduction of 0.3 percent, which shared 57.6 percent of the total value of production in the agribusiness sector.

Likely, the value of palay production declined by 2.0 percent.

Meanwhile, the value of livestock production, which stands at P59.46 billion, contracted by 3.6 percent, which accounts for 13.9 percent of the total value of agribusiness production.

The PSA noted that the value of hog production decreased by 4.3 percent.

Lastly, fisheries production, valued at P3.73 billion, was also reduced by 1.3 percent during the period, which accounts for 12.5 percent of the total value of agribusiness production.