The country's rice production is expected to hit 20 million metric tons, Department of Agriculture Undersecretary for Rice Industry Development Leocadio Sebastian reported over the weekend, as a report tracking the three quarters' data of the Philippine Statistics showed.

Sebastian said that compared to the output of 19.756 MMT harvested from 4, 804,591 hectares in 2022, this year's rice production would hit 20.143 million MT reaped from 4,816,933 hectares or up by 386,193 metric tons.

The areas planted for rice also slightly increased by 12,342 hectares, according to Sebastian.

He added that production from Irrigated areas rose from 14,938,689 MT in 2022 to 15,328,462 MT in 2023, or up by 389,733 MT.

Production in rainfed areas, on the other hand, Sebastian said slightly dropped from 4,818,704 MT in 2022 to 4,814,124 MT or by 3,579 MT owing mainly to a decline in harvest area from 1,463,680 in 2022 to 1,431,95 hectares in 2023 or a drop of 31,727 hectares.

However, the DA official explained that palay yields for both irrigated and rainfed areas slightly rose from 4.47 tons per hectare in 2022 to 4.53 MT/ha. in 2023 or a change of 0.06 tons per hectare for irrigated areas and for rainfed areas, yield was up from 3.29 tons per hectare in 2022 to 3.36 tons per hectare in 2023 or a change of 0.07 tons per hectare.

Sebastian said 2023 is a better year for palay farmers as the rice industry was beset by extremely high fertilizer prices in 2022. The cost of production was P14.96 per kilogram and the average dried palay price was P17 per kilogram so farmers only earned P2.48 per kilogram, he said.

He shared, that in his visit to Isabela, farmers told him that they were happy with the current high palay prices at the farm gate.

Sebastian said that one indication of good palay prices is that many seed growers sell their seeds as palay instead of as certified seeds for planting.

"This is the first time that in the wet season crop, walang nagrereklamo na mababa ang palay prices, farmers are happy", Sebastian said.

He cited another experience of a rice mill in Isabela which can enjoy a milling recovery of 70 percent of good quality rice which it sells for P49 per kilogram. The mill also utilizes the darak for feeds and rice hull to produce electricity, thus reducing its electricity cost to about P5 per kilowatt hour for the processing plant.