The Department of Agriculture said there will be enough supply of rice until the holiday season.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) National Rice Program said that palay production this year is expected to reach up to 19.50 million metric tons (MT) or 12.754 million MT in spite of global challenges that include fuel price hikes, increase in fertilizer prices and other inputs.
The DA’s 2022 data showed that rice supply was at 17.36 million MT and demand was at 15.137 million MT as of September 15.
There will be an ending stock of rice of about 2.228 million MT which is equivalent to 60 days buffer.
The DA's website showed that an expected import arrival of 2.751 million MT is due in the first three quarters of the year.
The Bureau of Plant Industry's remaining import clearances are only valid through the third quarter, and imports for the final quarter of this year have not yet been estimated. However, based on historical trends, import arrivals start to decline by the fourth quarter in time for the peak harvest from October to November.
For the holiday season, the agency is confident that there will be a sufficient supply of rice.
The DA Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service said that there were no significant changes in the retail price of commercial rice in Metro Manila marketplaces from June 2022 to September 23, 2022.
The imported well-milled remains price at ₱39 per kilogram, and regular milled rice is ₱38 per kilogram. For local well-milled, the prevailing price is ₱40 per kilo, and regular milled rice at ₱38 per kilo, respectively.
The DA targets palay production for 2023 at 20.24 million MT through a higher Rice Program budget in complementation with the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund implementation.
To increase local rice production and ensure a secure supply of rice in the Philippines, the DA also keeps implementing various projects and support services. The agency distributed high-quality seeds, fertilizer discount vouchers, biofertilizers, and farm machinery and equipment. It also supported the establishment of facilities and the construction of irrigation projects, among other infrastructure.
As of August 31, 2022, a total of 527,071 bags of hybrid seeds and 479,483 bags of certified seeds were distributed to eligible farmer-beneficiaries to cover 1.006 million hectares.
There have already been 634,298 vouchers generated for the fertilizer discount, totaling ₱1.13 billion and covering 674,558 hectares. Out of these generated vouchers, 174,996 vouchers amounting to ₱322.76 million have been claimed to cover 198,953 hectares.
In line with this, 14,766.40 hectares of rice fields were covered with 83,832 packs of BioN that are distributed across the country.
Further, the DA Rice Program also distributed 442 production and post-harvest machinery and equipment including tractors, harvesters, rice mills, hauling trucks, and dryers, and established 24 drying facilities.
A total of 282 projects consisting of diversion dams, shallow tube wells, and 6,787 linear meters of irrigation canals were constructed to serve an area of 1,449 hectares. Rehabilitation of Small-Scale Irrigation Projects was also done which restored up to 393 hectares of irrigated rice areas. This includes the rehabilitation of 5,045 linear meters of irrigation canals and four diversion dams.
The agency also organizes training for individual rice farmers to teach them basic knowledge on leadership and management, soft skills, project management, digital tools for agriculture, and agri-entrepreneurship.
Tags: #DA, #ricesupply