The Department of Agriculture (DA) will start this year the mapping of strategic production areas for palay (unmilled rice) as part of its effort to achieve self-sufficiency in rice production and eventual export.

Dante Delima, DA assistant secretary and National Rice Program coordinator, said on Monday that they hope to identify at least 20 strategic zones for palay production, saying that these areas will help ensure that the country will meet its 2013 production target.

”We will come up with a detailed management program for these zones, including provision of necessary assistance to prevent production shortfalls,” he told reporters.

Besides ensuring that the zone identification will meet production targets, the DA official said that the planted areas would be used as reference by local governments and lawmakers for the passage of a bill prohibiting land conversion.

”We want to protect all production areas in the country from being converted into commercial use. This must be done to ensure food security,” he said.

At present, Delima said that the DA has no control over the trend of converting agricultural lands to commercial use.

Majority of the potential areas being considered by the DA is in Mindanao, where palay cultivation areas in at least five provinces are considered as “strategic” and “high-valuable” for self-sufficiency.

Delima said that these areas include around 6,000 hectares to 8,000 hectares of cultivation area in Salug Valley in Zamboanga del Sur, which is composed of six municipalities. Potential planting areas in the area are irrigated by the Salug River.

Another area eyed as a strategic production zone is Titay Valley in Zamboanga Sibugay, which comprises 6,000 hectares of arable land. Delima said that the area has not been fully developed, having no irrigation system, farm-to-market roads, and advanced farm technology.

Other potential strategic cultivation areas are being eyed in North and South Cotabato and plateaus in Compostela Valley.

These cultivation areas are situated near major river systems, making it cost-efficient in terms of irrigation.

Delima said that potential cultivation areas in these provinces in Mindanao have not been developed because of armed conflict.

The development of these agriculture areas as strategic production zones would be one of the offshoots of the signing of a peace framework agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in October last year.

Cooperation with agencies
Delima said that upon identification of strategic production areas, the DA would apply the interventions proposed by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the International Crops
Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and Philippine Rice Research Institute.

The DA is currently working on an agreement with ICRISAT for the conduct of a five-year soil rejuvenation program with the goal of increasing the yield of major food staples.

In December, the DA signed an agreement with IRRI for the conduct of research and development activities over five years, with the goal of increasing rice production expanding production areas, and developing modern farming systems and technologies.

For 2012, palay production is likely to reach 18.03 million metric tons to 18.05 million MT, exceeding the target production of 17.98 million MT set by the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics.

As the Agriculture department consolidates farm data for the annual farm output report, it is possible that the current production level estimate may reach the more ambitious target of 18.46 million MT.
For 2013, the palay production target is seen at 20.4 million MT.