MANILA, Philippines - Farm output contracted in the first quarter from a year earlier, marking the second straight quarter of decline, as dry weather hurt rice production, government data showed on Monday.

Agriculture production shrank 2.8% in January to March, against a year-ago rise of 2.1%, the Department of Agriculture said.

"The decline was due to the effects of the El Niño phenomenon, particularly on production in the crops and fisheries subsectors," the department said in a report.

Production of unmilled rice, the country's main crop, fell 11.4% to 3.49 million tons as hotter than usual weather parched farmlands. Corn output was down nearly 17% to 1.6 million tons.

The crops subsector contributes nearly half of total farm output.

Agricultural output makes up around a fifth of the Philippines' gross domestic product. The government is set to announce first quarter growth data on May 27.