DA targets 20-M rice harvest

MANILA, Philippines - The government aims to produce around 20 million metric tons (MT) of rice annually beginning this year until 2016 by increasing cultivation areas and yield per hectare.

In a statement, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said at least 60 million MT would be programmed for production in the last three remaining years of the current administration in line with the department’s flagship Food Staples Sufficiency Program (FSSP).

“The DA should expand the area harvested for rice and to increase the yield per hectare to achieve rice self-sufficiency,” said Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala.

Rice production in the first quarter of 2013 was placed at 4.3 million MT, up 3.28 percent from the 4.17 million MT produced during the same period last year. In 2013, Filipino rice farmers produced a total of 18.44 million MT, making the country 98 percent self-sufficient in the staple.

Last year, the total rice cultivation area was placed at 4.75 million hectares (ha); yield per ha was at 3.89 MT.

This year, the DA aims to produce 19.07 million MT of rice from 4.83 million ha with an average yield per ha of 3.95 MT.

In 2015, the department will pursue a harvest target of 20.09 million MT from 4.92 million ha with an average yield of 4.08 MT per ha.

In 2016, it would be rallying Filipino farmers to produce 20.52 million MT from 4.95 million ha at an average yield of 4.15 MT per ha

Edilberto de Luna DA assistant secretary for field operations and national rice program coordinator, said Central Luzon (Region 3) would remain the leading rice-producing region.

This year, Central Luzon is expected to produce 3.52 million MT of rice and in 2015, some 3.76 million MT.

De Luna said Cagayan Valley is also expected to contribute strongly to domestic rice production in the next three years.

Alcala earlier said that the government would be pursuing a hybridization program for rice to increase yield per ha.

Talks are ongoing between the department and various hybrid rice seed producing companies for the program.

The country’s domestic rice stock inventory remains sufficient for 68 days, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

The PSA yesterday reported that as of June 1, the country’s total rice stock inventory was placed at 2.306 million MT, down 0.3 percent from the inventory of 2.313 million MT in the same period last year.

Of the current stock level, 47 percent are held in households, 35.4 percent in commercial warehouses while the remaining 17.6 percent are held in depositories of the National Food Authority (NFA).

Stocks held in households would be sufficient for 32 days, those in commercial warehouses for 24 days and NFA depositories for 12 days.

Farmgate prices of palay, meanwhile, continued to rise in June to P21.14 per kilogram, up 25.53 percent from the same period last year. Farmgate prices have been rising since June last year with a brief respite in October to November 2013.