DA allots P300 million for drones in rice production

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) has allotted P300 million to promote the use of drones for the country’s palay production.

At a press conference, DA National Rice Program deputy program director Glenn Estrada said the department has started the Drones4Rice Project which initially targets to cover at least 150,000 hectares of palay plantations in the country.

“We have about 4.8 million hectares of land and we will initially target to cover 150,000 hectares to jumpstart the Drones4Rice Program,” Estrada said.

He added the Drones4Rice Program aims to reduce palay production costs and need for manual labor. It also aims to draw the youth to farming.

“We already covered 20,000 hectares as the cropping season has just started, primarily under the National Irrigation Administration,” Estrada added.

According to him, a farmer only needs to spend P8,000 when using drones in palay production compared to the normal P12,000 labor cost.

“The full application for drones, including crop establishment, fertilizer application, pesticide and other chemical application is estimated to reach P8,000 and the government is subsidizing about P2,000. The P4,000 savings can be used by farmers to cater to their needs,” Estrada said.

The lower costs of production will eventually result in lower retail price of the staple in the markets, he stressed.

“The absolute cost (for palay planting), including harvesting activities, ranges between P70,000 and P80,000. The yield is about four to five metric tons (MT) per hectare. We want to improve the productivity of the farmers,” he said.

He stated that the P300-million funding allocated by the DA will be used for the purchase of drones and to finance the voucher program of the department.

“A drone normally costs P800,000 but the entire package including licensing amounts to P1.5 million. We will provide the services to the farmers through the vouchers service provision. The farmers are entitled to a P2,000 voucher per hectare,” he said.

Estrada said the Drones4Rice Project is expected to accelerate the rice industry’s digital transformation as part of the core strategies of the DA’s Masagana Rice Industry Development Program.

Vegetable prices up

The retail price of vegetables continues to go up by as much as P60 per kilo compared to the prevailing price a week ago amid the devastation brought by successive typhoons, according to DA’s monitoring.

Metro Manila markets saw lowland vegetables such as bitter gourd and eggplant reach prices as high as P220 per kilo, P60 more than the previous retail price of P160 per kilo a week ago.

Tomatoes further went up as its retail price ranged between P140 and P220 per kilo compared to the previous retail price between P70 and P200 per kilo.

The retail price of squash also increased to P80 per kilo compared to P70 per kilo last week.

Retail price of cabbage is still high at P140 per kilo; carrots at P200 per kilo; Baguio beans at P200 per kilo; potatoes at P150 per kilo; chayote at P80 per kilo and bell pepper at P500 per kilo.

Local garlic reached P500 per kilo; ginger, P330 per kilo and siling labuyo still at P600 per kilo.

Meanwhile, the retail price of milkfish also increased to as high as P250 per kilo compared to P220 per kilo a week ago.

The retail price of sardines also increased to P160 per kilo compared to P100 per kilo a week ago.

Typhoons continue to affect the country as the damage to agriculture has reached at least P9.81 billion affecting 233,923 farmers and fisherfolk.

The damage to high-value crops reached P1.23 billion covering 10,163 hectares and a production loss of 46,016 MT.