THE Department of Agriculture (DA) said the country’s rice supply is adequate for the entire year with a total projected supply of 17.994 million metric tons (MT) by end-December 2020 against a projected demand of 14.668 million MT.
Agriculture Secretary William Dar said the difference of 3.326 million MT will then become the country’s beginning inventory in January 2021 which is good for 94 days of supply.
Dar said the DA’s 2020 estimates are computed using the December 2019 surplus or the beginning stock in January 2020; total domestic palay production from January to December 2020; and the total rice imports for the entire year including the 300,000 MT to be imported by the Philippine International Trading Corp. under a government-to-government arrangement.
The DA said based on the Philippine Statistics Authority’s supply utilization of selected agricultural commodities, of the total rice demand, an average of 88 percent serves as food or what is actually eaten while the remaining 12 percent is allotted for seeds, feeds and industrial uses.
The report further showed of the total projected demand of 14.488 million MT, the actual rice that would be consumed as food would only amount to 12.9 million MT as the current annual average consumption of rice per Filipino is at 118.81 kilograms with a current population of 108.66 million.
The Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) has warned of viruses that may affect rice plants which can result in significant yield losses if not properly managed.
Jennifer Niones, plant pathology expert of PhilRice, said there are four types of viruses threatening farms: tungro, dwarf, grassy stunt and ragged stunt.
To manage the rice plant viruses, she said infected plants should be immediately removed once the disease is detected, as it can be prevented by practicing fallow period at least one month between each cropping to reduce the pests’ food supply, thus reducing their population.
Niones added resistant varieties should also be considered but insecticide should only be applied when needed.
