Despite the series of typhoons that battered the farm sector, the country’s unmilled rice output this year is on track to reach a record high this year, latest Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data showed.
PSA data indicated that the country would produce 19.44 million metric tons (MT) of palay by the end of 2020. While the agency adjusted downward its estimated production in the October-to-December period to 7.54 MMT, the volume is still higher than the 7.49 MMT produced last year.
With the latest estimate, full-year palay output could grow by 3.3 percent from last year’s 18.814 MMT, historical PSA data showed.
PSA data also showed that probable total output this year may eclipse the record-high production of 19.276 MMT recorded in 2017.
On a milled equivalent basis, total rice output this year could reach 12.71 MMT, based on BusinessMirror’s computations using PSA’s benchmark figures.
Latest estimates by the Department of Agriculture (DA) indicated that the country’s full-year rice output could range from 12.66 MMT to 12.779 MMT, which would allow the country to have a year-end stockpile that is sufficient for 85 to 88 days.
Earlier this month, the DA said the country’s rice self-sufficiency ratio (SSR) this year may settle between 90 percent to 91 percent, below its initial target of 93 percent due to the impact of typhoons.
The typhoons that struck the Philippines in recent months destroyed at least P12.3 billion worth of crops, including rice, according to government data.
Nonetheless, the latest rice SSR estimate of the DA is higher than last year’s nearly 80 percent, based on the latest PSA data.
The DA has initially set a palay production target of 20.34 MMT, or 8 percent more than the total harvest in 2019.
Pundits noted that the government’s rice competitiveness enhancement fund (RCEF) as well as additional Covid-related interventions propped up this year’s palay production.
For next year, the DA will shoot for another record as it has set a palay production target of 20.48 MMT.
The DA said it intends to encourage more farmers to plant quality in-bred and hybrid rice seeds in rain-fed and irrigated areas nationwide to achieve this target.
It added that it will “improve efficiency in the allocation and distribution of the P10-B RCEF for farm machinery, inbred rice seeds, credit, training and extension.”
“On top of P10-billion annual RCEF, the DA proposed for 2021 a total budget of P15.5 billion that includes the provision of hybrid seeds [P6.2 billion], inbred seeds [P375 million], fertilizers [P4.4 billion], farm equipment [P1 billion], training [P998.2 million], irrigation [P745.9 million], research and development [P658.7 million], and other interventions [P375 million],” it said.