The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Monday said it expects the harvest of palay (unmilled rice) this year to exceed 20 million metric tons (MMT), with officials seeking to fund the rice production program with an additional P10 billion.
In a statement, Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel, Jr. he said the P10 billion will fund strategies to beat the production of 20.46 MMT of palay this year.
If the target is met, it would represent a 6% increase from the 19.3 MMT estimate for 2024 production, and a 1.9% increase from the record 20.06 MMT shipped in 2023.
“Now we hope that we can do better than 2023,” added Mr. Laurel.
The DA said the drop in production in 2024 is due to drought associated with El Niño, and additional crop damage caused by floods during the La Niña episode late last year.
Farm damage caused by El Niño stands at P15.3 billion, according to the DA’s latest figures. Damage to rice amounted to P5.93 billion or 38.8% of the total. The lost capacity is estimated at 330,717 MT, across 109,481 hectares of farmland.
The DA estimated that the agricultural damage caused by typhoons Kristine and Leon, which crossed the Philippines in the fourth quarter, was P9.81 billion.
The DA said this year’s record rice imports were driven by weak palay production and the reduction in import duties on rice.
“Productivity is directly related to the amount of imported goods. Last year, our production dropped to 19.3 MMT, (so) our imports reached 4.78 MMT,” DA spokesperson Arnel V. de Mesa said.
Imported rice taxes were reduced to 15% from the previous 35% until 2028 through Executive Order No. 62.
The DA has tasked the National Food Authority (NFA) to continue with its “aggressive” rice procurement program to build grain farms.
The goal is for the NFA to “fully maintain its reserves for the first time in years, which is an important development in the country’s rice security,” the DA added.
Mr. Laurel added that NFA wants to buy a minimum of 300,000 MT this year.
NFA’s purchase in 2024 was 300,000 MT or about 6 million 50-kilogram bags of palay.
“This strategic purchase helped to stabilize the supply of rice despite the constraints of local production,” said the DA.
Republic Act No. 12708 or the Agricultural Tariffation Act proposed that the rice buffer stock requirement of the NFA became 15 days for national consumption from nine days ago. – Adrian H. Halili
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