The Department of Agriculture said it expects more farmers to join the government’s Masagana Rice Industry Development Program (MRIDP) after the average farmgate price of palay at the national level reached P19.06 per kilo.
DA undersecretary for Rice Program Leo Sebastian said the May farmgate price was about 10.6 percent higher from the P17.24 per kg price in May 2022.
As the overseer of the MRIDP, Sebastian estimates palay production to reach 8.605 million metric tons (MT) this year, or about 5.6 million MT of milled rice.
This volume, in addition to the 1.8 million MT carryover stocks of milled rice and the arrival of 1.8 MMT imported rice, would be sufficient to meet the demand of 7 million MT from January to June, he said.
“By the end of June, the available stock would be good for more than 2 months, in addition to the incoming supply from new harvest and imports,” Sebastian said.
He attributed the current price fluctuations to the high local and global production costs, affecting the prices of both domestically-grown palay and imported rice, respectively.
“[But] we expect this to stabilize,” he said.
The DA seeks to hasten the implementation of the MRIDP, particularly the clustering of rice farms tilled by irrigators association served by the communal and national irrigation systems and farmers cooperatives and other associations registered with the Cooperatives Development Authority.
Farmers part of the clusters will receive farm interventions such as seeds, fertilizers and other technologies from the DA, in partnership with the private sector.
Existing irrigation associations formed under the National Irrigation Administration will also be tapped as rice clusters to receive interventions and assistance from the MRIDP.
The program aims to achieve a self-sufficient rice industry with increased production, yield and farm incomes and with enhanced resilience to disasters and climate risks.