Farmers’ earnings down in 2020

MANILA, Philippines — Rice farmers earned slightly less last year as the production cost of palay or unhusked rice posted minimal increments, while the farmgate prices of the commodity continued to decline, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

In its Production Costs and Returns of Palay and Corn for 2020, the PSA reported that farmers earned an average of P0.46 for every peso spent on palay farming. This is slightly lower than the P0.48 earned in the year before.

“They gained higher during the dry season cropping at P0.45 than during the wet season cropping at P0.37,” the PSA said.

The country’s average cost of producing palay reached P11.52 per kilo, higher than the P11.45 per kilo production cost in 2019.

On a wider scale, the country’s cost of producing palay averaged at P47,089 per hectare in 2020, 1.7 percent higher than the P46,319 per hectare average cost in 2019.

“It was noted that during the wet season cropping, farmers incurred higher cost of production at P47,196 per hectare than during the dry season cropping at P46,650 per hectare,” the PSA said.

The biggest chunk of the production cost went to labor at P10,241. This was followed by fertilizer at P3,886.

Other major costs were on the operator labor, family labor, share of harvesters, landowners, and threshers, and the rental value of owned land.

The Ilocos region registered the highest average cost of production among regions at P64,776 per hectare.

In contrast, the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) posted the lowest cost of production at an average of P37,271 per hectare.

The PSA reported that average gross earnings amounted to P68,519 per hectare, while net returns averaged at P21,430 per hectare.

Yield per hectare inched up to 4.089 metric tons (MT) from 4.045 MT a year ago.

Despite the higher production costs, the PSA reported that the farmgate price of palay averaged at P16.76 per kilo last year, lower than the P16.95 per kilo in 2019.