DA says to attain 99% of palay output target

MANILA, Philippines – Thanks to the third cropping scheme, the government said it expects to produce 99% of its target production volume for palay this year.

The good harvest will keep rice importation next year to between 100,000 metric tons and 150,000 MT or even lower, said Department of Agriculture Proceso Alcala.

“It’s already a good level that will take care of the buffer stock,” said Alcala. “This may even be lowered because we are expecting good harvest.”

The Department of Agriculture has a palay production target of 18.46 million metric tons this year. It also gave a “conservative” estimate of 17.98 million MT, still higher than the 2011 output of 16.68 million MT.

Agriculture Assistant Secretary and National Rice Program Coordinator Dante Delima said farmers were able to cultivate 80,000 hectares of palay during the third cropping season, which are due for harvest this month.

“We think we would be able to attain 99 percent of our production target,” said Delima.

He said most of the palay that will be harvested this month would come from Region 1 (Ilocos Region), Region 2 (Cagayan Valley) and Iloilo.

Typhoon ‘Pablo’

Delima said, meanwhile, that typhoon ‘Pablo,’ which is battering Visayas and Mindanao provinces, will not affect palay production significantly.

He said that with the exception of Lanao provinces, “not all rice-producing provinces in its path are strategic areas.”

He also noted that most standing palay in Lanao are still in the vegetative stage and still have a big chance of recovering. – Rappler.com