Further palay production losses seen due to La Niña

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Center for Post-harvest Development and Mechanization (Philmech), formerly known as the Bureau of Post-harvest Research and Extension (BPRE), is apprehensive that this year’s palay production is bound for suffer additional losses due to the possible onset of La Niña during the wet cropping season.

In a talk with reporters, Philmech executive director Ricardo L. Cachuela said that apart from the projected average post-production loss of 15 percent, the La Niña could bring heavier rains in the latter half of the year which could further cut palay production.

Cachuela said post-production losses could go as high as 32 percent due to accumulated losses during harvest, at “piling”, during threshing of the palay,, during drying, at the storage and during milling of the rice.

Thus, adopting a comprehensive and efficient program to reduce post-production losses from harvest to milling, Cachuela said, could significantly reduce the average 15 percent projected production loss.

However, Cachuel said, Philmech/needs more funding to implement a five-year roadmap it had designed for 2008 to 2011. The roadmap requires a budget of P12 billion, of which only half has been released so far.

The Philmech/roadmap envisions the provision of a complete “unit” of post-production facilities in specific regions

Each “units” costs P40 million and would include a combine for harvesting, mechanical dryers, rice millers, bagging and transport. Philmech budget this year is only P112 million.