The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Tuesday reported that palay production in 2023 reached 20.06 million metric tons (MT), the highest harvest ever in the country.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority’s latest data, last year’s palay output was 1.5 percent higher than the 2022 volume of 19.76 million MT.

The 2022 harvest was a decline from the previous record harvest of 19.96 million MT in 2021.

“Our goal is to push that rice harvest volume further but that could be a challenge this year because of the water shortage we expect due to El Niño,” DA Secretary Francisco Tiu-Laurel Jr. said.

The recorded palay harvest translates to 13.2 million MT of rice — an amount that allowed the country to reduce rice import volume to 3.5 million MT from 3.8 million MT in 2022.

Earlier, the DA noted that rice consumption is estimated at 13.5 million MT but a required 50-day buffer means the country needs an additional 1.85 million MT of rice supply.

Hence, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. ordered the DA to modernize agriculture to increase food production, particularly palay, to ensure food security and increase farmers’ income.

The latest PSA data also showed that agriculture and fisheries sector remained resilient despite challenges faced in 2023, posting a 0.7 percent growth in terms of production value.

Tiu-Laurel cited the contribution of the livestock and poultry sectors, which recorded growth of 2.7 percent and 7.8 percent in terms of value, respectively, even with the continuing cases of African swine flu and avian influenza.

He added that crop production, which shares a majority of 58.7 percent of the total value of production in agriculture and fisheries, exhibited a 0.1 percent growth as compared to last year. (PNA)