Rice, corn output projections cut due to dry spell

THE Philippine Statistics Authority-Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (PSA-BAS) has further lowered its palay and corn output projections for the second quarter due to the adverse effects of the ongoing dry spell, insufficient water supply, and incidence of pests and diseases in some rice producing provinces.

In its May 2015 round forecast, BAS said that palay production for April-June 2015 may reach 3.898 million metric tons (MT), down 0.1 percent from the April 2015 round forecast of 3.902 million MT and 4.3 percent below last year’s output of 4.073 million MT.