THE country’s palay production grew 5.7 percent in the second quarter (Q2), even as total output for the first half of the year (H1) dipped slightly, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported late Wednesday.
Palay output from April to June reached 4.62 million metric tons (MT), up from 4.37 million MT a year earlier. But for the first six months of the year, production fell 0.6 percent to 9.02 million MT from 9.07 million MT in the same period last year.
Irrigated palay drove Q2 growth, rising 6.95 percent to 4 million MT from 3.74 million MT. For H1, irrigated output edged up 0.27 percent to 7.42 million MT from 7.4 million MT.
Rainfed palay also grew slightly in Q2, up 0.24 percent to 635,777 MT from 634,084 MT a year earlier. For the six-month period, however, rainfed output dropped 4.34 percent to 1.6 million MT from 1.68 million MT.
By region, Cagayan Valley led palay harvests with 1.2 million MT, followed by Central Luzon (1.1 million MT) and the Bicol Region (346,270 MT).
By province, Nueva Ecija topped production with 752,751 MT, followed by Isabela (562,044 MT) and Cagayan (493,018 MT).
The Department of Agriculture earlier said the country’s rice production could drop by 700,000 MT, or about 3.5 percent of normal output, due to an anticipated strong El Niño later this year.
Corn
Corn output was up at 1.50 million MT in Q2 from 1.49 million MT a year earlier. But production for the January-to-June period fell 3.09 percent to 3.8 million MT from 3.9 million MT in the same period last year.
Yellow corn production also inched up, rising 1.02 percent to 1.25 million MT from 1.24 million MT a year earlier. For H1, however, it declined 3.9 percent to 3.05 million MT from 3.17 million MT.
White corn production fell 0.33 percent to 257,772 MT from 258,638 MT a year earlier. For the January-to-June period, though, output grew 0.28 percent to 732,664 MT from 730,612 MT.
By region, Cagayan Valley led corn harvests in Q2 with 497,620 MT, followed by the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (199,096 MT) and Ilocos Region (189,710 MT).
By province, Isabela led corn harvests with 238,867 MT, followed by Cagayan (202,237 MT) and Pangasinan (120,564 MT).
Last month, the Department of Agriculture said it would push to raise the minimum access volume for corn to 500,000 MT from 216,940 MT, aiming to reduce the risk of shortages and shielding farmers, who rely on corn as animal feed, from rising costs.
