By Madelaine B.. Miraflor

The Philippines’ palay production is seen to go down within the last three months of the year amid the onslaught of typhoons in some of the country’s major rice producing areas.

Based on the outlook released by Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Tuesday, the probable rice production for October to December based on standing crop may decline by 0.76 percent to 7.26 million metric tons (MT) from 7.32 million MT in the same period last year.

Palay production for January to December 2018 may also decline to 19.17 million MT from the previous year’s level of 19.28 million MT, the highest palay output ever recorded in the country.

Because of Typhoon Rosita and Typhoon Ompong, which brought nearly P30 billion worth of damage to the country’s agriculture sectors in the last few months, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol revised for the nth time his palay output forecast.

From 19.4 million MT of rice, he said the country is only poised to come up with 18.6 million MT of rice, lower than PSA’s outlook.

Similarly, the harvestable area may decrease by 0.75 percent from previous year’s level of 1.86 million hectares.

From July to September, palay production fell by 5.70 percent to 3.20 million MT from 3.39 million MT in the same period last year.

Likewise, harvest area contracted to 825 thousand hectares from previous year’s record of 853 thousand hectares. Yield declined to 3.88 metric tons per hectare or lower by 2.52 percent.

“Substantial decrement in production was noted in Cagayan Valley. It accounted for 65.23 percent of the total reduction in production during the period. This was followed by CALABARZON, Ilocos Region and MIMAROPA,” PSA said.

“Decrement in harvest area was largest in Cagayan Valley,” it added.