ILAGAN, Isabela – Amid reports of a grim scenario of rice shortage predicted to last until 2010, the production of the country’s staple crop here is more than adequate to supply its domestic requirements as well as even support most of its yield to other regions needing rice supply, the agriculture office here said Sunday.
Danilo Tumamao, provincial agriculturist, said that the province, which has the highest rice yield per hectare among rice-producing provinces in the country, has achieved 283 percent self-sufficiency in rice, meaning that it produces 183 percent more than it consumes.
As a result, he said, a higher percentage of the rice production here is sent out of the province to support the growing consumption needs of other provinces of the country, including the metropolis.
“Actually, 70 percent of provincial rice production goes out of the province,” Tumamao said, but despite this, the province still receives a buffer allocation from the National Food Authority.
According to recent reports from the Department of Agriculture, the province produced at least 1.03 million metric tons, second only to Nueva Ecija’s production of around 1.8 million metric tons.