DA expects good rice harvest for the 1st semester
The Department of Agriculture hopes total harvest to exceed 7 million MT in the first semester due to favorable weather, said Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap as he allayed fears of a looming food crisis.
He stressed that Filipino consumers can expect enough supply of rice as good weather in the first semester plus the intensive intervention programs of the Department of Agriculture.
The government, Yap said will address this concern by putting on the fast-track the establishment of more bagsakan or drop-off points in urban markets along with barangay food terminals, as a way to guarantee the access of ordinary consumers to quality but more affordable rice and other foodstuff.
The DA press report disclosed that in last month's Leaders Briefing by the DA for the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP), and official of the Philippine Atmospeheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said that the La Niña phenomenon will last till June this year.
The agriculture secretary said that one area of concern, though is the hike in the cost of the staple arising from spiraling prices in the world market, which in turn was brought about by such factors as swelling demand by fast-growing economies and harvest slumps triggered by climate change.
Secretary Yap had informed over 40 provincial chapter heads of the LMP in the same briefing session that the DA hopes to hurdle this global threat by carrying out a package of intervention measures designed to raise crop harvests to historic peaks and enable Government to sustain the growth momentum of the agriculture sector.
He said the DA will expand areas planted with certified seeds to 600,000 hectares of rainfed lowlands and low-yielding irrigated sites, as part of the President's Accelerated Hunger Mitigation Program, the DA pres report disclosed. (PIA/T.Villavert)