Palay harvest remains flat in Q1

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s palay harvest in the first quarter remained relatively flat at nearly 4.7 million metric tons (MT) as planted area shrank, mitigated by higher yield, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.

The country produced 4.69 million MT of palay in the first three months, relatively unchanged compared to the 4.68 million MT recorded in the same period last year.

Irrigated palay still accounted for the bulk of the country’s harvest, contributing three-fourths of the total volume produced from January to March.

Irrigated palay output inched up to 3.66 million MT from 3.6 million MT, while rainfed palay production marginally increased to 1.04 million MT from one million MT, PSA data showed.

However, the overall palay production performance in the first quarter was still lower than the volume produced in the same period in 2023, when the country posted its record-high harvest of 20.06 million MT.

PSA data showed that palay harvest area shrank by almost two percent year-on-year to 1.15 million hectares from 1.17 million hectares. Notably, planted areas of both rainfed and irrigated palay declined during the first quarter.

Rainfed palay area fell by seven percent to 327,130 hectares from 351,953 hectares. Meanwhile, harvest area for irrigated palay slightly dropped to 820,394 hectares from 822,681 hectares, according to the PSA.

The drop in harvest area was mitigated by the hike in yield, preventing the total harvest from declining from last year’s figures.

The average palay yield in the first quarter reached 4.09 MT per hectare, about two percent higher than the 4 MT per hectare recorded in the same period last year, based on PSA data.

Yield of both rainfed and irrigated palay segments increased on an annual basis.

The average yield of rainfed palay farms reached 3.18 MT per hectare, up from 2.84 MT per hectare last year. Meanwhile, irrigated palay yield hit 4.46 MT per hectare versus last year’s 4.38 MT per hectare.

Raul Montemayor of Federation of Free Farmers said the marginal increase in palay production was not “surprising” since it was coming from a low base last year.

Montemayor noted that the increase in output was supported by improved yields caused by better weather conditions as farmers were spared from any extreme conditions this year unlike last year.

Last year, rice farmers reeled from prolonged dry spell caused by the El Niño phenomenon.

The contraction in palay harvest area may be attributed to some farmers delaying their planting schedule, thus, harvesting in a later period, most likely in the second quarter,Montemayor said.

The Department of Agriculture estimated that the country would post a record-high palay harvest of 20.46 million MT this year on the back of better weather conditions and more state production interventions.

The projected palay output translates to a milled rice production of nearly 12.89 million MT, which the National and Economic Development Authority (NEDA) noted would be insufficient to meet the country’s total rice demand of 15.54 million MT.

NEDA projected that the country will import 3.45 million MT of rice this year to plug the shortfall in its domestic output and ensure sufficient stocks to prevent price spikes in the market.