Monday, April 07, 2008 C. Mindanao palay yield to increase by 30%
PALAY production in Central Mindanao region is projected to increase by a third in the second quarter of this year with more areas expected to grow the crop, regional agriculture officials said amid fears of rice shortage gripping the nation.
Abusama M. Alid, regional agriculture director, said palay yield forecast for the region from April to June 2008 is pegged at 114,690 metric tons, up to 33.3 percent or 28,663 metric tons from the 86,027 metric tons harvested during the same period last year.
"In as far as rice supply in the region is concerned, we are confident that there will be no shortage because of ample production. [But] in extreme cases when more stocks will be brought out of the region, our constituents have a fall back via government importation," he said.
Alid cited the two million metric tons of rice that the country seeks to source from foreign countries, explaining the rice import is to maintain the buffer stock of the National Food Authority (NFA).
Central Mindanao is one of the major rice producing regions in the country. In the first quarter of 2007, it was the fourth rice-producing region, Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) data showed.
Central Mindanao straddles the provinces of South and North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani.
For the three months to June 2008, areas planted to palay in Central Mindanao are expected to increase to 33,857 hectares from 25,687 hectares during the same period last year, data prepared by the regional Agriculture office said.
This second quarter, North Cotabato is seen to have a palay production of 46,698 metric tons; South Cotabato, 37,996 metric tons; Sultan Kudarat, 24,053 metric tons; and Sarangani, 5,943 metric tons.
On top of the projections for the second quarter of the year, Alid pointed out the region has a palay surplus of 146,219 metric tons from the end 2007 harvest season.
"The surplus can still feed the regional population for about 4.3 months or from January to April," a regional rice sufficiency level report said.
For the first quarter of the year, palay harvest in the region was estimated to reach 384,241 metric tons, up to 11 percent from 345,410 metric tons produced during the same period in 2007, the regional Agriculture department reported.
Despite the abundant harvest in Central Mindanao, prices of rice in the commercial markets have soared across the region, the regional Department of Trade and Industry confirmed on Thursday.
But the regional Trade department declined to give specific figures, saying that monitoring of rice prices are under the jurisdiction of the Agriculture department. (BSS)
