The Department of Agriculture on Thursday insisted the government was on track to achieve its target of rice self-sufficiency this year, and appealed to news media not to equate the concept of rice self-sufficiency with zero importation of rice.
Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said rice cartel and smuggling would soon be a thing of the past as he noted an upsurge in the country’s rice production goal last year.
The heavy rains induced by the habagat (southwest monsoon) in August and the amihan (northeast monsoon) wind two months later had brought an unexpected bounty to local rice farmers who celebrated the ‘Duman’ Festival here on Saturday.
It all started with a World Bank (WB) report about the high cost of labor and low rates of mechanization, which contributed to high palay production cost in the Philippines.
Filipino farmers will harvest an additional 750,000 metric tons of rice under the Department of Agriculture’s early planting program involving 150,000 hectares of crop lands which were planted to rice during the summer season, the DA has said.
The Department of Agriculture has scaled down its 2011 rice production forecast by 4.3 percent to 16.68 million metric tons (MT) after typhoons that hit the country in the second half of the year pulled down the country’s rice harvests.
MANILA, Philippines—The country’s palay (raw rice) production will be reduced by around one million metric tons in 2011 as a result of typhoons that damaged farmlands, according to the head of the Department of Agriculture. But Department of Agriculture officials assured senators, on Tuesday, there would be no rice shortage this year and in 2012. [...]
FOR MANY Filipinos, corn is rice’s lowly cousin. But the Department of Agriculture (DA) says Filipinos should not degrade the grain because it has health benefits and could be the ticket to the country attaining food security. The DA revealed on Sunday that it had stepped up production of low-glycemic white corn seedlings to provide [...]
