Piñol claims PHL to have bumper rice harvest this year

The Philippines will have a bumper harvest of rice this year, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol claimed on Friday.

In a statement, Piñol said the forecast is based on his "visual appreciation" of the farm areas he visited at the start of 2017.

"Of course, this will still have to be validated by PRISM (Philippine Rice Information System). But the way I see it, I am upbeat that we will have a bumper harvest this year considering that we didn’t have any major typhoon, no rat infestation  or  outbreak of diseases," he noted.

The Agriculture Department said the Cabinet official recently visited Central Mindanao, Iloilo, Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Quezon and Bicol, visits that helped form the basis of his optimism.

Piñol also noted favorable reports from Central Luzon and Cagayan Valley.

The only area that yielded negative report was Eastern Samar, which almost always bear the brunt of typhoons, he said.
 
On rice importation, the Agriculture chief said he will present data from PRISM to the Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries once he gets hold of the document that will be the basis for determining the amount of additional importation this year.

"At the moment there is no need. We will have to confirm first from the PRISM report. It should validate my visual appreciation first," he said.
 
For the livestock industry, Piñol said there is nothing to worry about as there is ample supply of chicken and beef products, despite the ban on chicken imports from countries plagued by bird flu infestation.

 "I don't see any crisis at the moment. I cannot even lift the ban on chicken imports as I don't want to go against the interest of the Filipino farmers and endanger the whole poultry industry," he said. — Ted Cordero/VDS, GMA News