BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya , Philippines –Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala is confident that the country will achieve rice-sufficiency by the yearend.
Speaking in Isabela, Alcala said the province’s promising rice output and those of other major rice-producing provinces is an indication that the country has enough rice supply to last until the year-end and thus be rice self-sufficient.
The remaining palay to be harvested until December would make the country’s rice production reach 20 million metric tons this year, higher than last year’s 18 million metric tons, he added.
Alcala said the country’s dependence on imported rice has been declining over the past two years because of the improving local production.
From 2.4 million metric tons in 2010, rice imports went down to 200,000 metric tons this year, he added.
Alcala assured farmers of the government’s continued assistance in the form of more irrigation facilities, as well as farm equipment and inputs to further improve rice production to make the country rice self-sufficient.
Alcala was in Isabela last Friday to attend the rice festival in Santiago City.
Isabela has the biggest surplus in rice production, although it is only the country’s second highest rice-producing province after Nueva Ecija.
Engineer Mariano Dancel, operations manager of the National Irrigation Administration’s Magat River Integrated Irrigation System (MARIS), said 4,000 hectares planted with rice are ready for harvest this month.