The Department of Agriculture (DA) expressed confidence in a better second-quarter performance by the Philippine agriculture, saying that improved weather conditions and stronger, more timely interventions have driven a significant rise in rice and corn production.
The DA said in a statement on Sunday it expects the country’s agricultural sector to have built on the gains in the first quarter of 2025, when it posted 1.9 percent growth, which was better than 0.5 percent growth recorded for the first quarter of 2024 when El Niño hit the sector.
The DA also expects the agriculture sector to have performed much better from April to June 2025 than in the second quarter of 2024, when its output dropped by 3.3 percent from the level recorded in the second quarter of 2023.
The latest projections from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that palay output could reach 4.36 million metrictons (MT) in the second quarter of 2025, up 13 percent from the 3.85 million MT produced in the same period in 2024.
The agency said the improved performance was driven by the expansion of the harvest area by 9.2 percent, from about 890,600 hectares to 972,730 hectares. The DA also reported improved yields, projected at 4.48 MT per hectare in the second quarter of 2025, from 4.32 MT in the second quarter of 2024.
The DA explained that rice production benefited from favorable weather, increased government support through the National Rice Program, the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, and the stronger palay procurement by the National Food Authority (NFA).
The NFA currently buys palay at prices between P18 and P24 per kilogram.
“Given the latest production forecasts from the Philippine Statistics Authority, we’re hopeful this quarter will build on the momentum we saw at the start of the year… But we must not let our guard down. We are doubling down on efforts to increase food production while boosting farmer incomes,” Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. was quoted as saying in the DA statement.
For corn, the DA cited the PSA’s reports based on standing crops as of May 1, that corn production could grow by 27 percent to 1.487 million MT in the second quarter of 2025, from the 1.17 million metric tons recorded in the second quarter of 2024. Corn’s harvest area expanded by 16 percent to 402,690 hectares in the second quarter of 2025, from 346,880 hectares in the second quarter of 2024, the DA said.
Tiu Laurel said that contract farming initiatives and sustained irrigation support from the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) have empowered farmers to make better decisions and expand production.
“These numbers are encouraging, but this is just the beginning… With sustained funding support for rice programs, we remain fully committed to achieving food security by the end of 2028, in line with the president’s vision,” he said.
The DA emphasized that rice and corn production have been major contributors to crop production, which has been accounting for around 57 percent of the country’s agricultural output.
The Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) said, however, that a positive agriculture output would be “unfortunately overshadowed” by low farmgate prices of palay.
“From April to May, farmgate prices were between P11 and P16 per kg, fresh harvest. Our biggest worry is that farmers are further discouraged from farming… Immediately, the government must provide cash incentives to our rice farmers, to encourage them to continue planting. The next cropping season is about to start,” Jayson Cainglet, the SINAG executive director, said in a separate message.
He urged the government to tap the P30-billion automatic allocation to the local rice sector under the Rice Tariffication Law, adding that at present, the RTL funds still have P4 billion for use in aiding farmers.
“The key to encouraging our farmers to continue farming lies in guaranteeing fair farmgate prices. Farmers are discouraged when they experience low farmgate prices after investing months of hard work without guaranteed returns,” Cainglet explained.
“High production cost and depressed farmgate prices are realities driving farmers away from agriculture,” he added.
