The Agriculture Department said Wednesday rice harvest this year will likely decline from last year’s production, because of the effects of several typhoons and the El Niño dry spell.
“Our forecast for this year is 18.3 million metric tons. That is lower than last year as typhoon Lando and the El Niño affected the crops,” said Agriculture assistant secretary and national rice and corn program coordinator Edilberto de Luna.
Palay or unmilled rice production reached 18.97 million metric tons in 2014.
“We could have reached 19.5 million metric tons, if there was no El Niño and typhoon Lando did not hit the rice producing areas,” de Luna said.
The department said that based on field validation, typhoon Lando affected 317,063 hectares of rice, including 15,822 hectares that had no chance of recovery.
Production losses for the rice sector reached 510,439 metric tons with a total value of P7.09 billion.
The prolonged dry spell also affected 30,665 hectares of rice nationwide valued at P1.09 billion, he said.
“Based on our estimates, this year’s production was lower by almost 600,000 metric tons. However, we expect higher production in the first quarter of 2016,” de Luna said.