DA to exceed Q1 rice output target

MANILA, Philippines - The Agriculture department expects rice output to exceed the target in the first three months of the year amid better weather conditions, a cabinet official said yesterday.

“Based on the latest field report, we may exceed our rice production target by three to five percent alone,” Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said in an interview.

He said that favorable weather conditions supported rice production in the first quarter.

In January, the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) said that palay production in the first quarter is expected to reach 4.035 million metric tons (MT) based on standing crop.

The BAS rice output projection for the first quarter is 0.1 percent lower than the 4.037 million MT produced in the same period last year.

For the first-half of the year, the BAS estimates palay production to hit 7.78 million MT, up 2.7 percent from the 7.58 million MT in the same period last year.

Alcala said the official data on rice output would be released by the BAS.

The BAS said on its website that the farm output data for the first quarter which includes the rice output data, would be released on May 13.

Alcala said earlier the department has set the rice production target at 18.46 million MT this year, as it seeks to be self-sufficient in the production of the crop by the end of next year.

Last year, the country produced 16.68 million MT of rice.