Normin’s palay production posts 205,000 metric tons in Q3

By BEN BALCE
Staff member . 

THE palay production in northern Mindanao increased by 1.8 percent to 204,314 metric tons during the third quarter. All provinces in the region posted increases except for Misamis Occidental where rice production dropped by 1.5 percent.

The National Economic and Development Authority said the top two rice producers in the region are Bukidnon and Lanao del Norte that posted increases of 2.5 percent and 0.39 percent, respectively.

Production support such as fertilizer, hybrid and certified seeds, complemented with adequate irrigation water and good rainfall resulted in Bukidnon’s higher volume of harvest during the quarter.

Lanao del Norte’s favorable performance was due to the use of high-yielding variety, adequate irrigation water supply and rainfall.

The negative performance of Misamis Occidental was attributed to the conversion of some rain-fed areas to irrigated areas. Irrigation systems are still not operational and undergoing construction.

The average yield reached 4.9 metric tons per hectare, up by about 1.1 percent from the previous year’s level. Except for Lanao del Norte, the rest of the provinces posted average yield increases led by Camiguin and Misamis Oriental registering at 58 and 9.7 percent, respectively.

Yield per hectare in irrigated and rainfed areas also posted increases by 0.9 and 1.61 percent, respectively.

The 13.15-percent increase in the average farm gate price coupled with the 1.8 percent increase in rice production pushed the third quarter 2019 production value to P 4.413 billion which is 15.2 percent higher than that of the same period of last year.

Rice sufficiency level this quarter reached 87.62 percent, just 0.05 percentage points higher than that of the same period in 2017. (Table 3)

Rice inventory as of Oct. 1, 2018 was 1.240 million bags, 18.7 percent lower than the rice inventory of 1.525 million bags during the same period last year.

These were estimated to last for 43 days based on the region’s daily rice consumption requirement of around 28,920 bags.

During the forum yesterday, the Neda also announced a significant improvement in the economic performance of the region during the same quarter. Neda-10 chief economic development specialist Cecilio Clarete discussed the effects of inflation in the region during the forum.