The Department of Agriculture in Central Visayas (DA-7) disclosed an increase in palay production and yield for the year 2023, compared to 2022 data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.

Dr. Gerry Avila, DA-7 operations division chief, attributed the rice yield increase in funding allocation, fertilizer discount vouches, irrigation projects and the provision of inbred rice seeds by PhilRice.

Engr. Epifanio Gaudicos, the region’s rice focal person, has likewise shared with the farmers the Masagana Rice Industry Development Program for 2023 to 2028, anchored on the four core strategies, as follows, MaSaGaNa, Matatag, Sama-Sama Ganado and Napapanahon.

Under the Sama- Sama core strategy, rice areas were clustered to reach a minimum of 100 hectares and have them enrolled under the F2C2, or the Farm and Fisheries Clustering and Consolidation, system.

Those in the F2C2 are the priority recipients of the Rice interventions. Gaudicos revealed that all the farmers in the areas are then listed in the Registry System for Basic Sector in Agriculture.

Town agriculturists and technicians of Cebu province recently attended strategic planning under DA-7 in Mandaue City. They were joined by the Office of the Provincial Agriculture and the region’s rice program implementating units.

Marina Viniegas, the region’s Agricultural Program Coordinating Officer-Cebu disclosed that Toledo City, Pinamungajan and Argao are the top three rice-producing areas in the province.

The increase in Cebu province’s rice production last year has spurred hopes of further increases for 2024 as the United States Department of Agriculture predicted the Philippines would import more rice this year, up to 3.9 million metric tons.

The administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has an aspiration to eventually bring down retail prices to P20 per kilo, a pipe dream say many of the government’s critics.