RICE production in the Cordillera Administrative Region decreased by 1.1% in 2018, however, the Department of Agriculture said the region remained self-sufficient for rice and corn.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority - Cordillera reported rice production decreased by 1.1% compared to the 19,276,347 metric tons (MT) produced in 2017.
In 2018, the Philippines produced 19,066,094 MT of palay harvested from a total area of 4,800,406 hectares.
Cordillera region ranked 15th with 2.1 percent or 391,105 MT share to the national production while Central Luzon obtained the highest share of 19 percent.
PSA-CAR added all types of palay ecosystem decreased. The Irrigated palay decreased by 10.3 % (55,067 MT), rainfed palay by 19.6% (4,154 MT) and upland palay by 41.2% (2,940 MT).
Irrigated palay had the highest production with 89.3% followed by rainfed palay with 8.8% and upland palay with 1.9%.
Among the provinces in the region, Kalinga had the highest production at 40% (156,269 MT), followed by Apayao at 19.5% (76,346 MT). Abra and Ifugao almost had the same share at 15.9 percent and 15.4 percent, respectively. Mountain Province produced the lowest with 4.2 percent or 16, 376 MT.
Last year, harvested area comprised of 11,387 hectares in the region. PSA noted a decreased by 3.6% or 4,168 hectares from 115, 555 hectares in 2017.
The average yield of palay in CAR was 3.51 MT per hectare in 2018, decreasing by 8.8% from 3.85 MT in 2017.
Irrigated rice posted the highest yield among ecosystems with 3.86 MT/Ha while upland palay yielded the lowest with 1.3MT/Ha.
In a May 21 press conference of the Department of Agriculture Cordillera, the region in 2017 had only two percent contribution equivalent to 445,000 metric tons of palay.
Dr. Cameron Odsey, regional executive director of DA-CAR said the region remain self-sufficient in rice and corn.
He explained the requirement of the population of the Cordillera can be produced citing rice producing areas of Apayao, Kalinga and Ifugao.
While for highland vegetables, the region supply about 70 to 80 percent of the highland vegetable requirements of the country.