By Manny Piñol
The rice sector is projecting a good First Quarter harvest as standing crops show vigor, no diseases or infestation was reported and farmers are aided by good weather.
The Regional Offices of the Department of Agriculture reported robust crop growth all over the country with many farmers whose farms were damaged by the typhoons last year able to replant and expected to harvest by the First Quarter.
This projection was shared by PhilRice Executive Director Sailila Abdula and rice farmers all over the country.
Harvest has already started in parts of Central Mindanao where farmers reported good yields.
The rice sector lost about 800,000-metric tons in projected harvest last year due to 12 tropical disturbances and typhoons, especially Super Typhoon Ompong which ravaged the rice and corn fields of Cagayan Valley and Northern Luzon.
In the last few days of 2018, Tropical Depression Usman caused flooding in the Bicol Region which damaged rice farms.
The immediately delivery of interventions by the Department of Agriculture (DA), especially seeds, enabled the farmers to replant immediately.
In spite of the huge damage valued at about P18-B, the rice sector managed to produce 19.066-million metric tons, lower than the 2017 historic-high harvest of 19.28-million metric tons but higher than the 17.6-million mt harvest of 2017.
Also expected to boost the rice production for 2019 is the increased use by farmers of Inbred and Hybrid seeds from 48% in 2017 to 60% today.
The use of good quality seeds increases yield from 4-metric tons per hectare per harvest to at least 6-metric tons to even as high as 10 metric tons.
The release of the P10-B Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund or RCEF which allocates P5-B for mechanization and P3-B for Inbred rice seeds will also contribute to higher rice production.
With the good weather and increased government interventions, the DA has set a 2019 production target of 20-million metric tons.
The 20-MMT production, if achieved this year, will be the highest production of the rice industry in the Philippines in history.
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