DA eyes quick turnaround as palay losses seen to breach annual average

The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Tuesday said it is eyeing a “quick turnaround” for palay production recovery as palay losses are seen to breach the annual 500,000 metric tons (MT) to 600,000 MT projection.

This came as Super Typhoon Julian placed 51,863 hectares of planted rice at risk of damage due to possible flooding.

In a phone interview, DA Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa assured interventions to farmers for replanting in case Super Typhoon Julian leaves major damages.

“Ang palaging response natin iyong (Our usual response is the) quick turnaround for areas na pwedeng maka-recover. Kunwari (that can still recover. For example,) for October, four months, they can still harvest by January,” he said.

He said this is possible if damaged areas are immediately replanted after poor weather.

De Mesa said out of the 51,863 hectares, some 44,326 hectares are in the ripening phase while the remaining 17,500 hectares are still in the reproductive phase.

The areas may be equivalent to around 200,000 MT of possible rice production losses, he added.

“Assuming na lahat ito, medyo malaki iyan na madadagdag doon sa mga previously na mga (Assuming these are all damaged, that’s somehow a large figure to be added on the previous) damage, it can easily breach iyong (the) 600,000 metric tons,” De Mesa said.

The DA has earlier reported 420,000 MT of rice production losses due to the combined effects of the El Niño phenomenon and previous weather disturbances.

“Definitely, hindi naman lahat iyan, at risk lang, depende kung gaano kalaki iyong baha sa areas na dadaanan (all of it will not be damaged, only at risk, and still depends on the areas that will be flooded),” the DA official said.

Despite this, De Mesa maintained optimism in hitting the DA’s 20.4 million MT palay production target for the year.

"Of course, may La Niña tayo. Iyong (we still have La Niña), The National Rice program is still hoping that, at least, we can still match the harvest last year of 20 million metric tons. So that’s still the projection, hopefully,” he said. (PNA)