Farmers’ toil: Production to hit record high despite heartbreaks

The country’s palay production is expected to climb to an all-time high of 19.44 million metric tons (MT) this year as farmers are expected to yield their biggest harvest this quarter despite the series of typhoons that inundated several farmlands.

Between January and September, palay output reached 11.9 million MT, split among three quarters with a yield of 4.36 million MT, 4.13 million MT and 3.52 million MT, respectively.

For the fourth quarter, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) projected harvest could hit 7.54 million MT based on the volume and area of standing crop as of last month.

This would bring total palay production to a historic high, besting the 2017 record of 18.72 million MT.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar cited the rice competitiveness enhancement program and the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) regular rice program and rice resiliency project as the major drivers of this growth.

Experts added the high demand for rice brought about by pandemic-related interventions encouraged farmers to plant more of the staple.

The latest forecast, if accurate, would allow the agency to increase production by 3.3 percent from last year, thereby also raising the country’s self-sufficiency rate for rice.

“Despite the unprecedented challenges, from logistical nightmare brought about by the pandemic to the series of typhoons that hit major production areas in the country, our rice sector continues to post significant growth,” Dar said.

“This is just the beginning, as in succeeding seasons, we expect farmers to further increase their average yield to six tons from the current four tons per hectare,” he added.

The DA earlier aimed to raise palay production this year to a high of 20.66 million MT. However, the country lost a total of 419,560 MT of palay worth P6.94 billion between January and November, primarily due to four strong typhoons that made landfall in October and November.

Combined, typhoons “Ulysses,” “Quinta,” “Rolly” and “Pepito” destroyed 385,210 MT of palay.

“Had it not been for the typhoons and other challenges, we could have produced more,” Dar said.

The favorable performance of the palay sector has buoyed the agency’s optimism to aim for a higher target next year. For 2021, palay production is targeted to reach 20.48 million MT.

While the positive outlook for palay signals a sufficient rice buffer for consumers, palay prices remained low as of the first week of December, according to the PSA.

“The problem of farmers is not the low palay prices but the high production cost. There is no public infrastructure and institutional policies that would help and support our farmers from preproduction, production, postproduction and marketing. Across the value chain, there has been no strategic support,” said Rosendo So, chair of Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura.

The average farm-gate price for a kilo of palay stood at P15.97, with a low of P10.71 a kilo and a high of P22 a kilo.

According to the National Food Authority, the ideal farm-gate price is P19 a kilo for the farmer to cover all costs and still make a profit.

Meanwhile, prices of regular milled and well-milled rice in the market declined to an average of P36.29 a kilo and P41.13 a kilo, respectively. INQ