Palay output seen to reach 20 million MT in 2021

The Philippines' palay (unmilled rice) production is expected to reach 20 million metric tons this year to mark another all-time high, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA).

Agriculture Secretary William Dar said the country is likely to achieve a record-high production of 20.4 million metric tons of palay this year, up from the 19.3 million recorded in 2019.

"Despite the pandemic, we are slowly but surely hurdling the challenges in the implementation of [the Rice Tariffication Law] with tangible results in terms of palay productivity, farmgate price, and retail prices of rice," said Dar.

The Rice Tariffication Law, or RTL, was implemented starting March 2019. The measure allows unlimited importation of rice as long as private sector traders secure a phytosanitary permit from the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) and pay the 35% tariff for shipments from neighbors in Southeast Asia.

"The RTL is a transformative but disruptive policy reform. While we have anticipated transition to take time, the benefits that it brings to both consumers and palay farmers during this time of crisis cannot be denied," said Dar.

"Rice is no longer the traditional driver of inflation. In fact, the stable supply of rice under the RTL regime has helped temper food inflation in the past several months, which continues to experience upward pressure from the tight supply of meat," he added.

After five consecutive months, inflation slowed down to 4.5% in March, but this is still faster than 2.5% in March 2020 which the government has attributed to higher prices of another agricultural good, pork.

According to the price monitoring data of the Agriculture Department as of April 15, prices of local rice range from P38 to P50 per kilogram, and imported rice at P44 to P52 per kilogram.

Meanwhile, buying prices of palay at the National Food Authority (NFA) range from P12.70 to P19.00 per kilogram. Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed average farmgate prices at P16.69 per kilogram in the last week of January, up from P16.14 per kilogram in the same week last year.

"The higher prices of palay at farmgate provide more incentives for our farmers to continue planting," claimed Philippine Integrated Rice Program (PIRP) Director Dionisio Alvindia, who believes that growth will continue this year despite the community lockdowns. — DVM, GMA News