Three provinces in Western Visayas posted more than 100 percent growth in the third quarter production of palay this year compared to the same period in 2019.
Based on the data of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), Aklan obtained 30,312.3 metric tons (MT) production which is 259.63 percent higher than last year with 8,428.74 MT.
Capiz has reached 112.58 percent growth from 45,914 MT to 97,602 MT, while the province of Guimaras posted the highest leap at 25,366MT from 5,275 MT, with 380.87 percent increment.
The production in the provinces of Iloilo, Antique, and Negros Occidental grew by 38.51 percent, 25.17 percent, and 1.40 percent, respectively.
“The significant increase in the palay production performance can be attributed to the expansion of the production area, and also to the free inputs provided to farmers under the Rice Resiliency Project (RRP) 1,” Remelyn Recoter, Department of Agricuture (DA) Western Visayas director, said.
On DA’s “Plant, Plant Plant” program, the RRP is looking to increase the local palay production to ensure rice sufficiency amid the threats of global hunger due to COVID-19 pandemic.
The RRP 1 which ended its distribution for the wet cropping season last September 15 had provided at least 14,915 bags of certified seeds, 51,797 bags of hybrid seeds, and 447,602 bags of fertilizer to the farmers in the region who were listed in the Registry System for the Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA), Recoter said.
The project had contributed to 35.42 percent growth in the region’s palay production in the third quarter performance, she added.
“The use of high yielding seed varieties and sufficient fertilizer application enabled 2.8 percent growth in the average yield production of farmers from 3.58 MT per hectare average yield in 2019 to 3.68 MT per hectare yield,” she added.*
