Department of Agriculture expects lower palay output in Q3

Manila, Philippines -  The Department of Agriculture said it expects palay growth in the third quarter at five percent, lower than the 10 percent projection of the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) due the weather disturbances that occurred in the past two months, but is expected to rise in the fourth quarter because of the third cropping scheme that will be carried out next month.

Agriculture Assistant Secretary and National Rice Program coordinator Dante Delima said palay output in the third quarter is seen at a range of five to 10 percent because of the ongoing harvest season. He also noted that most of the affected rice planting areas were still in the vegetative stage, thus having a chance to recover.

“What we are doing if we are trying to protect the projection of 10 percent growth but because we were hit by typhoons, there is a possibility that the increase will be minimal at five percent,” he said.

Delima said that to recover the damage, some 75,000 hectares in irrigated areas are being identified for third cropping next month. If this is pursued in September, farmers will be able to harvest by December.

“We can still recover the damages if we can start the third cropping early. Even if we only cover a minimum of 50,000 hectares,” he said. “So, I’m not worried about the impact of the flooding. I’m worried about the typhoons that may still come. ”  

He said the department is determining if the areas are fit for cultivation for the third cropping scheme because some regions like Region 3, Central Luzon, is still flooded. The region comprises Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac and Zambales.

During the dry season, the Department of Agriculture (DA) encouraged farmers to participate in the early cropping scheme by providing more irrigation facilities. This enabled farmers to produce 3.9 million metric tons (MT) of palay in the second quarter, an increase of 10 percent from 3.54 million in the same period in 2011.

In the first quarter of 2012, palay production declined 1.12 percent to 3.99 million MT from the same period a year ago. Lower palay production in the first quarter was due to the delayed planting of some provinces like Cagayan and those in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao as a result of continuous rains.