Rice output slightly up year-on-year

MANILA, Philippines – Rice production in the first semester improved by at least one percent year-on-year to reach a volume of between 8 million and 8.1 million metric tons, according to the Department of Agriculture.

Agriculture Undersecretary Dante S. Delima said in an interview that the increase was mainly due to better weather conditions as well as heightened procurement activities of the National Food Authority.

Delima, who is coordinator of the national rice program, added that the use of high-yield seeds and the expansion of irrigated areas also contributed to improved production.

He also refuted data from the International Rice Research Institute which suggest that rising consumption and population growth were compromising the government’s food self-sufficiency thrusts.

“The population of the Philippines is estimated at 97 million. Its annual growth rate of around 2 percent—among the world’s highest—means that just to keep pace with growing demand the country would have to increase rice production and yield at rates rarely seen in history,” the IRRI was quoted in an Inquirer report published last July 30.

Delima said the data was from 2009 and needed to be updated. To use old data would be “dangerous” especially for policy makers, he said.

Citing data from the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics, Delima said Filipinos consumed an average of about 114.3 kilograms of rice and 10.3 kilos of corn in 2012.

The numbers are part of the results of the 2012 Survey of Food Demand for Agricultural Commodities in the Philippines (SFD), he explained.

Delima also said that data on per capita consumption of rice show a downtrend from 128 kilos in 2008, 119.2 kilos in 2009, 114.8 kilos in 2010 and 115.3 kilos in 2011.