The Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) warned of a possible decline in palay prices during the coming dry season harvest following a surge in imports in recent months.
The group said 1.22 million metric tons (MT) or 40 percent of the total 2.98 million MT rice imports last year arrived between September and December, supplemented by the record high domestic output of local palay that reached 19.96 million MT.
FFF said another 262,000 MT of imports arrived last month despite the huge carryover stocks from the previous year.
“We will have a supply glut when the farmers start harvesting their dry season crop starting March 2021. Farmers will again suffer from low prices even as the costs of fertilizer, fuel and other farm inputs remain high. Having a large harvest is meaningless to farmers if it results in low prices for their produce,” said Raul Montemayor, FFF’s national manager, in a statement.
Based on latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, de-seasonalized farmgate price of palay for October to December 2021 was at P16.65 per kilogram (kg) up by 1.3 percent from the previous quarter’s P16.44 per kg. This is 9.5 percent compared to the same period in 2020 when farmgate price of palay was at P18.39 per kg.
The FFF said the increase in palay production did not benefit farmers significantly as half of the incremental harvest last year came from expansion in harvested area and only half was due to improvement in yields.
Montemayor said output per hectare only improved by only 1.6 percent last year, equivalent to an additional income of only P1,095 per hectare.
