The Department of Agriculture (DA) is set to launch a massive modernization program that will increase rice recovery after milling from the current 62 percent and lessen post-harvest wastage.
DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr., in a statement yesterday, said this will be pursued by the government “through science and technology” that would improve local rice production.
Laurel said experts, scientists and the entire sector must implement “harmonized efforts” to attain food sufficiency, especially for rice.
Aside from the modernization program, Laurel said he will look into the staffing of the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) in Munoz, Nueva Ecija, to bring in more employees and scientists to its current 297 personnel.
Laurel said PhilRice currently employs 1,500 contractual workers, many of them highly capable in their respective fields.
However, Laurel said with eight offices throughout the country, PhilRice is “severely undermanned” in fulfilling its central role in producing seeds and developing technology that would help increase rice output.
Last October, the DA said the country can possibly experience a record palay harvest this year despite the expected effects of the El Niño phenomenon.
Leo Sebastian, DA Undersecretary for rice industry development, earlier said local palay production this year can “hopefully” reach up to 20 million metric tons (MT) or just slightly below the said figure.
In 2021, Philippine local rice production hit a record 19.96 million MT but slightly dropped to 19.76 million MT last year.
The DA said the optimistic projection is driven by the around 300,000 MT yield increase of palay for the first semester of the year compared to a similar period in 2022.
