Govt wants to produce 500,000 MT more rice to plug shortfall

With the implementation of a rice recovery scheme, the government is eyeing to produce at least 500,000 metric tons (MT) of paddy rice to narrow the expected production shortfall of unmilled rice. "We expect to produce 500,000 MT," Agriculture Undersecretary Joel Rudinas said in an interview with reporters. Rudinas said the Agriculture Department is in the process of validating its figures with the budget for its rice recovery plan during the wet cropping season. Government documents showed that it was planning to spend around P600 million for three programs to narrow the expected production shortfall. Under the rice recovery scheme, the department will roll out the fertilizer assistance program for irrigated and rain-fed areas, quick turn-around planting program, and the upland rice development program. A report recently released by the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics showed that paddy rice production for 2010 would hit 16.2 million MT, slightly lower than the 16.3 million MT produced last year. Paddy rice output in 2009 would have exceeded the 17 million MT if not for the damage wrought by tropical cyclones Ondoy and Pepeng on major rice producing provinces in the Philippines. Government figures showed that around 1.2 million MT of paddy rice was destroyed in late 2009, and brought importation to reach a record 2.24 million MT of rice, mainly from Vietnam and Thailand, to fill in the production gap. The extreme dry spell in the first quarter of this year also destroyed as much as 400,000 MT standing rice crops and delayed the planting schedule for the wet season. —JE, GMANews.TV