The country’s palay (unmilled rice) production is expected to exceed 18 million metric tons (MMT) this year, the biggest production in history, the Department of Agriculture said over the weekend.

In an interview, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala expressed confidence that the Philippines will be able to attain the 18.4-MMT production level in 2012 under the rice self-sufficiency roadmap, despite the damage caused by Typhoon Pablo to rice fields in 14 provinces.

Based on latest estimates, lost production in palay was pegged at 19,658 MT valued at P476.21 million. The area affected reached 25,724 hectares in Campostela Valley, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental, North Cotabato, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Norte and Surigao del Sur, Palawan, Negros Occidental, Zamboanga del Sur, Bukidnon, Lanao del Norte, Misamis Occidental and Misamis Oriental.

Alcala said that despite the typhoon damage, this would not affect the attainment of the palay output target for the year, because most of the areas hit by the typhoon were able to harvest.

“This will not affect the harvest for 2012 because most of the areas affected were already able to harvest,” he said.

The DA chief also noted that many of the affected areas that were still in the vegetative stage were beginning to recover.

Projections for next year
In his official report to the Office of the President, Alcala said that the production losses caused by the typhoon would account for only a 0.47 percent reduction to the production forecast of 4.16 MMT made by the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) for the first quarter of 2013.

In its rice and corn situation outlook, BAS said that palay production for January to March 2013 may reach 4.16 MMT, or 4.1 percent higher than 3.99 MMT produced in the same period this year.??

BAS said that based on farmers’ planting intentions, harvest area may expand 4.7 percent from 1.08 million hectares in 2012 to 1.13 million hectares in 2013. Yield per hectare, however, may drop by 0.50 percent to 3.67MT from 3.70MT.

Palay production in October to December 2012, meanwhile, is expected to increase by 9.2 percent from last year’s production output of 5.94 MMT to 6.49MMT.

Alcala said that because of the third cropping scheme that was carried out in September, farmers were able to recover production losses caused by typhoons Ferdie and Gener as well as the southwest monsoon that dumped torrential rains over rice producing regions in July and August.

“Production rose after the third cropping that was conducted after the monsoon. We intended to recover lost production but we produced more,” he said.

To attain its rice production target for this year, the DA encouraged early cropping during the dry season to produce at least 47 percent of the target production for the year. The remaining volume was produced during the wet season and during the third cropping period.

Alcala said that with the good results produced by this cropping scheme, the department will gradually increase the volume of palay produced during the dry season to 60 percent of the production target, while the remaining 40 percent of the annual palay requirement would be produced during the wet season and the third cropping period.

This would be complemented by increased farm mechanization and addition of postharvest facilities.

Next year, the department will encourage farmers to produce at least 55 percent of the production target of around 20MMT during the dry season.

“We would be more assured of hitting the target if we can get hold of 60 percent of the production during the dry season,” said Alcala.

The agriculture chief said that the country is currently 97 percent to 98 percent self-sufficient in its palay requirement. By next year, the department aims to attain full self-sufficiency with ability to export premium rice varieties.

Alcala said that importation next year would be close to 100,000MT to 150,000MT as against 500,000MT this year to serve as buffer stock. The National Food Authority Council has yet to decide on the final exportation volume for next year.

The country will also proceed with the exportation of long grain aromatic rice varieties and heirloom rice from the Mountain Province.