The damage typhoons wrought on palay farms in the past year was not enough to significantly affect the country’s rice stock, according to the Department of Agriculture.
Agriculture Undersecretary Dante S. Delima said in a recent interview that palay lost to bad weather amounted to just about 300,000 metric tons (MT), or half the 600,000 MT that the government prepared for this year.
Even then, Delima said, the country may miss its target of becoming self-sufficient in rice by the end of the year.
He projected that the country would only be 98 percent self-sufficient by year’s end. Still, the figure is a vast improvement from the officially accepted 87 percent.
“By self-sufficiency, we mean covering domestic demand plus a buffer stock that should last at least 90 days,” he explained.
Filipinos across the country consume 34,000 MT of rice daily, which puts the buffer stock at 3.06 million MT.
“By yearend, we expect to have a … stock of 2.4 million MT that is good for 74 days,” Delima said.
The DA expects 19 million MT in total rice output this year.
Delima added that the National Food Authority (NFA) Council is set to evaluate the domestic supply situation in January.
“By considering the ending inventory and the production outlook for the first semester of 2014, the NFA Council will decide on whether we need to import rice and, if yes, by how much,” he explained.
The National Economic and Development Authority, which previously recommended to President Aquino the immediate importation of 500,000 MT of rice, said no new rice purchase would be made this year, Delima said.
Last week, Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala said this new consensus “would go by the President’s pronouncement that, if ever we import, it is because we need to.”
Alcala explained that since the country’s main harvest occurs in the second half of the year—accounting for 60 percent of the year’s output—decisions on whether to import, and how much, are usually finalized at the start of the succeeding year.