Photo by Sandy Ravaloniaina on Unsplash
Agritech | via PNA | DA guarantees rice supply despite El Niño | Even if El Niño causes problems, the Department of Agriculture (DA) says the country will have enough rice for the rest of the year.
Based on what the Department of Agriculture (DA) knows about rice production, the overall supply of rice for the first half of the year is thought to be 9.109 million metric tons (MT).
This includes the 1.850 million MT in stock at the start, the 5.197 million MT made locally, and the 2.062 million MT brought in from other countries.
On the other hand, total demand is thought to hit 6.990 million MT.
Based on the data, the first half’s closing stock is thought to be 2.119 million metric tons, which is enough for 57 days.
“That doesn’t count the rice grown in July, August, and the rest of the year. It also doesn’t include imports that came in after June, DA Undersecretary Leocadio Sebastian told the Philippine News Agency on Sunday.
“So, if you add these two numbers together, we’ll have enough rice for the year and enough left over to last until 2024,” he said.
Sebastian said that the output estimate for the first semester was based on the Philippine Rice Information System (PRiSM)-remote sensing.
“For the first semester, we made a conservative estimate of production based on PRiSM-remote sensing and the same amount of production as last year. We think, though, that our production will be higher this year because the weather has been so nice and sunny while we’ve been harvesting,” he said.
Sebastian said that a number of plans are being made to lessen the effects of El Niño.
Some of these are making changes to the planting schedule, fixing irrigation ditches, and putting in water pumps.
Photo by Sandy Ravaloniaina on Unsplash
