MANILA, Philippines — The country remains on track to hit its palay (unhusked rice) production target for this year of 20.4 million metric tons (MT), driven by the record palay output in the first quarter, according to the chief of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
“We are pleased to report that the country’s rice farmers harvested a total of 4.626 million MT for the first quarter, 8.6 percent more than in 2020 Q1 and erasing the record harvest in 2018 Q1,” Agriculture Secretary William Dar said yesterday.
“This record first-quarter yield further boosts our confidence to hit or even surpass the 20.4-million MT metric ton palay production target we set this year, barring strong typhoons and other natural calamities,”he said.
Dar commended the millions of rice farmers, as well as local government technicians and leaders, and industry stakeholders nationwide for the higher output.
“We also appreciate the efforts of our ‘OneDA’ team for vigorously implementing the various interventions that led to the improvements in yield,”Dar said.
Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) director John de Leon said the production growth was due to improvements in both area harvested and yield.
He said the area harvested increased by 4.53 percent, while yield grew by 3.87 percent last year.
“Area harvested to rice expanded from 1.1 million hectares (ha) to 1.15 million ha, while yield went up from 3.88 mt/ha to 4.03 mt/ha. Overall, area harvested contributed 54 percent to the incremental first quarter production, while the share of yield was 46 percent,” de Leon said.
He said first quarter growth in palay output was observed in both irrigated and rainfed areas.
De Leon said the growth in area harvested could be attributed to the above normal rainfall due to a series of typhoons in the last quarter of 2020, which enabled farmers to do a quick turn-around planting.
“This only shows that our palay farmers are confident to continue planting rice, contrary to what detractors were peddling at the start of the implementation of the changes in the country’s rice policy,” Dar said.
Meanwhile, Dar said they also expect a more stable market for rice this year, despite the challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic, thanks to the massive funding allocated to the industry under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF), complemented by the DA banner national inbred and hybrid rice program, and rice resiliency project.
“We are slowly achieving a favorable equilibrium, wherein consumers have access to affordable rice, while our farmers reap bountiful harvests and earn bigger incomes as a result of yield improvements and stable prices of palay,” Dar said.
Data showed that the value of palay production ingrew to P247.7 billion in the first quarter from P239.9 billion in the same period last year.
At current prices, the value of palay production increased to P267 billion from P248 billion in the same quarter a year ago.