By Rose de la Cruz
Weather permitting, the Department of Agriculture is hopeful that this year’s harvest of 20.46 million metric tons would surpass the record in 2023 of 20 MMT.
But in a La Nina year, where either abundant rainfall or very hot weather could prevail, DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel said he is optimistic about achieving bumper rice harvest this year, rebounding last year’s slump.
He said the DA is motivated to aim for higher yield because of the President’s directive restoring DA’s production budget to P10 billion.
“We’re now hopeful we could do better than 2023,” he said recently.
Rice production faced setbacks in 2024 amid a prolonged dry spell from El Niño and flooding from La Niña, resulting in an estimated output of 19.3 million metric tons, below the 2023 levels.
To bolster rice security, the National Food Authority (NFA) will continue its aggressive procurement program, which helped fully stock warehouses last year.
Laurel, who chairs the NFA Council, reported that the agency purchased 300,000 metric tons of palay in 2024, stabilizing supply despite production challenges, which is now its major problem and would want to dispose of by means of declaring a food emergency for rice.
This year, the agency aims to buy at least the same amount. Under the amended Rice Tariffication Law, the NFA’s required buffer stock has been raised from 9 days to 15 days of national consumption.
A combination of reduced palay output, higher NFA procurement and lower rice tariffs drove rice imports to 4.75 million metric tons in 2024.
The government aims to boost local production, while continuing rice imports, to meet rising demand and stabilize the prices.
The DA prescribed a maximum suggested retail price of P58 per kilogram of imported rice to prevent profiteering among traders amid indications that the drastic drop in import tariff did not translate into equivalent reduction in retail prices of the main staple