Palay output seen to reach 20 million MT in 2021
MANILA – The country’s
production is expected to reach 20 million metric tons palay this year to mark another all- time high, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said.
According to DA secretary William Dar, the country is likely to achieve a record-high production of 20.4 million metric tons of this year, up from the 19.3 million recorded
palay in 2019.
“Despite the pandemic, we are slowly but surely hurdling the challenges in the implementation of [ the Rice Tariffication Law] with tangible results in terms of
productivity, farmgate palay
price, and retail prices of rice,” he said.
The Rice Tariffication Law ( RTL) was implemented in March 2019. The measure allows unlimited importation of rice as long as private sector traders secure a phytosanitary permit from the Bureau of Plant Industry and pay the 35 percent tariff for shipments from neighbors in Southeast Asia.
“The RTL is a transformative but disruptive policy reform. While we have anticipated transition to take time, the benefits that it brings to both consumers and farmers during this time of crisis cannot
palay be denied,” said Dar.
He added that rice is no longer the traditional driver of inflation. The stable supply of rice under the RTL has helped temper the food inflation in the recent months.
After five consecutive months, inflation slowed down to 4.5 percent in March, but this is still faster than 2.5 percent in March 2020 which the government has attributed to higher prices of another agricultural good, pork.
According to the price monitoring data of the Agriculture Department as of April 15, prices of local rice range from P38 to P50 per kilogram, and imported rice kilogram.( at News) P44 to P52 per GMA