MANILA, Philippines — Agriculture Secretary William Dar has attributed the country’s bountiful harvest last year to the various programs of the Department of Agriculture (DA) despite the calamities and pandemic that affected the Philippines.
Based on the DA’s record, the local production of rice has reached 19.44 million metric tons, which is higher than the 19.27 million metric tons recorded in 2017.
The DA said that one of the programs that helped farmers produce more is the Rice Competitiveness and Enhancement Fund under the Rice Tariffication Law.
The DA’s projection for the local production of rice for the year 2021 is 20.47 million metric tons while the Department’s projection for rice importation this year is 1.69 million metric tons.
Dar said the harvest last year represented more than 90% of the total requirement of the country.
Meanwhile, the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) emphasized the need to improve local rice production so as not to depend on importation.
This was after reports that Vietnam is eyeing importation of rice from India.
The Philippines is getting more than 90% of its import requirement from Vietnam.
“Ang mga dumadaan na bagyo dito dumadaan din ng bagyo sa area na iyon (Vietnam). So we expect na kung bumagsak din ang production nila, they have to buy from other places,” SINAG President Rosendo So.
Secretary Dar clarified, however, that the grains that Vietnam bought from India are used for feed manufacturing and breweries.
“Vietnam buys 100% broken rice for their feed manufacturing and breweries because it is cheaper. They export their rice fetching a higher price and they have 7.1 m metric tons for export accordingly,” Dar said. –MNP (with reports from Rey Pelayo)
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