The Department of Agriculture (DA) has announced over the weekend it plans to reduce by 50 percent the rice importations for next year.
Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said “We’re trying to wrap up discussions on rice production and importation. It will surely be lesser than what we have imported this year. We’ll have more solid figures next week.”
If the need arises, Alcala said the government is willing to import as much as 50 percent less than this year’s rice importation “as long as we have the capability to support this technically and financially.”
For 2010, the Philippines has bought as much as 2.47 million metric tons (MT) of the commodity to fill in its requirements for the year.
According to the DA-Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS), the January-June 2010 palay production may decrease by 10.5 percent — from 7.38 million MT in 2009, production may drop to 6.60 million MT.
This was largely attributed to the production losses resulting from the El Nino phenomenon in the first and second quarters of the year.
BAS said the January-March palay output was recorded at 3.49 million MT, which is 11.4 percent lower than last year’s 3.94 million MT.
The major sources of the decline were attributed to the production losses incurred in Cagayan Valley , Western Visayas, SOCCSKSARGEN and Northern Mindanao .
BAS said the volume of losses in these regions summed up to 421,000 MT or 93.6 percent of the total production loss in the country during the quarter.
Heavily affected by the El Nino was Cagayan Valley province where some 182,000 MT of palay were lost during the first quarter of 2010. This was 40.6 percent of the country’s total production loss.
The administration of President Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III has vowed to cut rice imports with a view of attaining sufficiency status by 2013. [PIA Dispatch]
