The country’s average cost to produce a kilogram of palay in 2019 fell by 5 percent to P11.2 per kilogram, from P11.81 per kilogram recorded in 2018 as farmers slashed their non-cash costs such as seeds, latest Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) report showed.
The PSA report showed that farmers in 2019 spent an average of P45,302 for a hectare of palay, while their gross returns that year was estimated at P66,626 per hectare, giving them a net income of P21,324 per hectare.
The PSA said farmers incurred higher cost during the dry season at P45,842 per hectare while they spent P46,463 per hectare during the wet season planting. Likewise, rice farmers earned higher gross income during the dry season at P24,159 per hectare, compared to P16,546 per hectare in the wet season, PSA added.
“During the dry season cropping, net earnings reached P24,159 per hectare, higher than during the wet season cropping at P16,546 per hectare,” the PSA said in its report published recently.
“Farmers earned an average of P0.47 for every peso invested in palay production. It was higher during the dry season cropping at P0.53 compared with the wet season cropping at P0.36,” the PSA added.
However, a PSA report showed that rice farmers last year received lower net returns compared to 2018 due to the plunge in farm-gate prices.
Rice farmers in 2018 registered an average net income of P34,111 per hectare compared, which was 60 percent higher than their net income per hectare last year based on PSA data.
Farm-gate prices last year averaged at P16.47 per kilogram while it was P20.4 per kilogram in 2018, according to the PSA report.
“Farm-gate prices ranged from P15.43 per kilogram during the wet season cropping to P17.51 per kilogram during the dry season cropping,” it added.
The PSA report showed that rice farmers were able to reduce their total cost per hectare last year by 3.43 percent to P45,302 from P46,913 in 2018.
The huge reduction in their total costs could be traced to a decline in the non-cash costs incurred by farmers for planting based on PSA data.
In 2019, farmers spent about P12,059 per hectare in terms of non-cash costs compared to P14,112 per hectare in 2018, according to the PSA report.
Lower non-cash costs for harvesters’ share, threshers’ share, landowners’ share, irrigation fee, and seeds contributed to lower overall non-cash costs for the rice farmers, based on the PSA report.
The country’s average palay yield per hectare last year slightly grew to 4.045 metric tons (MT) from 3.972 MT recorded in 2018, based on PSA data.
Image credits: Bernard Testa