The Philippines’s unmilled rice output last year breached the 20-million metric ton (MMT) mark—making it the highest volume on record—despite the over P2.5-billion damage caused by Typhoon Odette to the rice industry, Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar said.

In a virtual press briefing on 18 January, Dar said the country met its target of producing at least 20 MMT of palay last year, which is 3.09 percent higher than the current record of 19.4 MMT recorded in 2020.

In the first week of January, the Department of Agriculture (DA) earlier estimated that palay output last year could have reached at least 19.95 MMT. The department arrived at the projection by combining the 12.55 MMT output recorded in the January to September period and the forecasted fourth-quarter harvest of at least 7.4 MMT.

The DA rolled out numerous measures to boost domestic rice production last year, which it organized under the so-called Philippine Integrated Rice Program (PIRP).

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) earlier reported that the country’s rice self-sufficiency ratio in 2020 improved to 85 percent from 79.8 percent in 2019 on the back of the record-high harvest.

Source: Business Mirror 19 January 2022

https://businessmirror.com.ph/2022/01/19/phl-21-palay-output-breaches-20mmt-d-a/