By Manny Piñol
Secretary of Agriculture
The Philippines posted in 2017 the highest rice yield in history at 19.4-million metric tons, a volume that theoritically has made the country’s production over the projected per capita consumption.
In a meeting which I called yesterday attended by officials of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) and the Department of Agriculture, it was established that while the “official” rice sufficiency level of the country is placed at 96%, rice farmers were actually able to produce more than what the country could consume for the First Quarter.
IRRI Deputy Director General Bruce Tolentino and PhilRice Executive Director Dr. Sailila Abdula, including experts from the agency, met with the top officials of the DA which included Undersecretary Segfredo Serrano for Policy and Planning, USec Ariel Cayanan for Operations, Asst. Secretary Andrew Villacorta for Agribusiness and Marketing along with three Directors to come up with a common and joint assessment on the rice supply situation in the country following a controversy generated by claims that there is a rice shortage in the country.
The “rice shortage” claim which resulted in a spike in the market price of rice was believed to be a media propaganda to justify the increase in the price and to justify additional importation of rice.
All three agencies agreed that a mathematical computation of the country’s rice stocks based on actual production in 2017 of 19.4-M MT with a milling recovery of 65% against estimated per capita consumption of 109 kilos, would show an “excess” production of 1.38-M MT.
This computation does not include the volume of imported rice brought into the country in 2017 which was almost 700,000-MT.
Beginning the 1st Quarter of 2018, the country had a Buffer Stock of 2.1-M MT which is good for 88 days.
In the First Quarter of 2018, the Production Forecast is placed at 3.067 of milled rice which when added to the buffer rice stocks carried over from 2017, would place the First Quarter Rice Supply at 5.8-Million Metric Tons.
By the end of the 1st Quarter, the Buffer Stock of the country is placed at about 3.1-M MT which is good to supply the rice requirements of the country for 96 days.
“Officially,” however, the country could not yet declare that it is already rice sufficient even if the mathematical computation on production versus per capita consumption shows an “excess” of 1.3-M MT because part of the 19.4-M gross production achieved in 2017 is set aside from seeds, wastage and buffer stocks.
All three agencies agreed that the “official” rice sufficiency rate of the Philippines now is at 96% and the “official” shortfall in supply is only about 400,000 MT which could be sourced through importation.
During the meeting, however, it was noted that the rice industry of the Philippines had the highest growth among all rice producing countries at 5.55% and the area planted has increased to 4.9-million hectares in 2017.
The average yield per hectare in the Philippines has also increased from 3.9-MT per harvest to 4.3-MT and this was mainly because of favorable climatic conditions last year and the acceptance by farmers of modern technology including the use of high yielding hybrid seeds.
The DA Rice Program targets an increase in the average yield per hectare per harvest to 6 metric tons which if achieved by 2020 would “officially” make the Philippines self-sufficient in rice.
(Photos taken by Mayette Tudlas and Jeff de Guzman)
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