In 2010, the country's Gross National Product (GNP) went up by 7.16 percent. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 7.33 percent. The agriculture and fishery sector, which contributed 17 percent to GDP, contracted by 0.34 percent.
The country's labor force in 2010 totalled 38.89 million persons. Employment rate was 93 percent. About 11.96 million persons were employed in the agriculture sector. This comprised 33 percent of the national employment. The daily nominal wage rates of agricultural workers during the first half of the year were P 227.23 in palay farms and P 175.25 in corn farms.
The government expenditures for the agriculture sector at P89.22 billion in 2010 was up by 9.58 percent from last year's record. Agricultural expenditures shared 6 percent in the national expenditures. In the case of irrigation, the proportion of irrigated service area remained at around 49 percent of the total potential irrigable area.
In 2010, production of palay and corn dropped by 3.04 percent and 9.34 percent, respectively. Output losses were, likewise, registered for coconut at 1.00 percent and sugarcane at 21.82 percent. Growth rates of more than 3.0 percent each were recorded by mango, tobacco, onion, cabbage and eggplant.
Livestock production exhibited an upward trend. Output increases were noted in carabao at 5.05 percent, cattle at 2.71 percent, hog at 1.11 percent and goat at 1.38 percent. Dairy production went up by 11.14 percent. Production of chicken meat expanded by 4.01 percent while that of chicken eggs grew by 5.12 percent. Duck meat and duck egg production went down by 8.24 percent and 7.44 percent, respectively.
Production in commercial fisheries declined by 0.94 percent. Municipal fisheries and aquaculture had output gains corresponding to 1.69 percent and 2.77 percent.
On the average, prices received by farmers for their produce increased by 6.39 percent in 2010 from the previous year's levels. Prices of cereals went up by an average of 2.62 percent. Specifically, the price of palay grew by 1.93 percent. Price of matured yellow corn was higher by 9.41 percent while price of matured white corn was lower by 5.88 percent. Commercial crops posted the highest price increments which averaged 41.51 percent. Livestock and poultry products were priced higher by 6.02 percent and 0.75 percent, respectively. On the other hand, prices paid by consumers for food, beverages and tobacco items went up by 3.04 percent in 2010.
The country's earnings from agricultural exports reached US$ 4,097.59 million in 2010. This was 30.67 percent higher compared to the previous year's level. Coconut oil and tuna contributed 39.67 percent to the total agricultural export earnings of the country. Major markets for coconut oil were Netherlands and United States of America. Tuna was mostly shipped to United States of America and Germany.
Agricultural imports valued at US$ 7,331.18 million in 2010 were 20.58 percent higher than the 2009 import expenditures. Rice, milk and cream products accounted for 30.62 percent of the country's agricultural imports. The major suppliers of rice were Vietnam and Thailand while most of the milk and cream and products came from New Zealand and United States of America.
The deficit in the Philippine agricultural foreign trade in 2010 amounted to US$ 3,233.59 million. It surpassed the 2009 record by 9.83 percent. The country recorded agricultural trade surplus with Japan and the European Union while it had trade deficits with Australia, USA, ASEAN countries and the rest of the world.