La Niña seen to bolster palay production

The Department of Agriculture (DA) said the La Niña weather phenomenon which is expected to bring torrential rains in key crop-producing areas will actually bolster palay production, the country’s major staple, and possibly reduce rice importations this year.

"The upside (of the La Niña) is that heavy and prolonged rains will boost our efforts to increase rice production this year and we might have reduced importations if present conditions prevail," said Agriculture Secretary Domingo F. Panganiban.

This year, the National Food Authority (NFA) has estimated rice imports to reach at least 1.2 million metric tons (MT), lower than last year’s 1.8 million MT. The imports will augment this year’s projected rice production of 14.8 million to 14.9 million MT.

Panganiban said that as part of the DA’s mitigating measures, farmers will be encouraged to change the crops they will be planting this season.

For instance, the DA is convincing corn farmers in the Cagayan Valley and Isabela provinces to plant rice instead of corn, their traditional crop this planting season. About 30,000 hectares of corn lands in these two provinces in Northern Luzon are considered highly vulnerable to possible flooding that will be brought in by La Niña.

At an average yield of 3.5 MT per hectare, the additional volume from this area is estimated to reach at least be 105,000 MT of rice.

On the other hand, production from the displaced corn lands which account for about one-fourth of total corn production in the country, will be transferred to the less vulnerable areas in Mindanao such as Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Davao Oriental, Zamboanga Peninsula, Sultan Kudarat, Southern and Northern Cotabato, Oriental and Occidental Mindoro, Bicol Region and Southern Tagalog.

"Our corn production target of 5.5 million metric ton stays. It will simply be a matter of persuading corn farmers in the less vulnerable areas to increase their production of the crop," said Panganiban.

Panganiban said concerned government agencies will be meeting regularly to discuss more mitigation measures to ensure that the country will have enough rice and corn supply, while keeping prices of these two major staples and other food crops such vegetables, stable and affordable to consumers.

He added that La Nina will also be good for high-value commercial crops such as highland vegetables and export agricultural commodities such as sugar, corn, pineapple, mango and bananas.

Panganiban downplayed the possible adverse effects of the La Niña on agricultural production and stressed the weather phenomenon on the whole, will be good for agriculture.

"The department is not yet revising its growth target of four percent this year and any revision will only be determined after the harvest season for rice and corn in April and May," said the DA chief.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said the weather disturbance is anticipated to bring in three times more than the average annual rainfall in the country.

PAGASA said the increases in the incidence of typhoons, floods and frequent heavy rains since November signaled the onset of La Niña which is expected to linger until the end of first semester this year.

Climate centers in Australia, Japan and the US also noted the La Niña conditions and predicted the phenomenon will continue for the next three to six months.