Iloilo has enough rice supply—prov'l agriculturist
Provincial agriculturist Ildefonso Toledo yesterday said Iloilo province is 120 percent sufficient in rice supply as rice producing towns continue to yield good harvest in spite of the adverse impact of the climate change in other rice producing regions in the country.
Toledo, in a radio interview, assured the province has more than enough rice supply and there is nothing to fear on possible rice shortage in the next few months. The inclement weather in some parts of the country brought favorable results among the farmers, he said, since there were farmers who planted for the third cropping.
Toledo's statement was in relation to the plan of the national government to import rice from Vietnam. The country which is the world's biggest importer of rice is facing the risk of shortages. The nation's own stocks are down to eight days of consumption or around 264,000 metric tons. The government wants to ensure it has a 30-day buffer.
Rice producing towns in Luzon particularly Nueva Ecija has been affected by flood affecting the rice supply of the entire country. Rice is the staple food of the people and it should be made available to all people, said Toledo.
In his recent visit to Iloilo, Department of Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said they are implementing projects to increase palay production such as the restoration of irrigation systems, post-harvest drying facilities and distribute hybrid rice certified seeds for planting.
The agriculture department wants to increase palay production of 4-5 tons every hectare and increase production from 1.59 million metric tons to 1.69 million metric tons for the entire region and same time improve net farms income from palay production to an average of P10,270 per hectare for the wet season crop and P12,397 per hectare for the dry season crop.