{"id":241655,"date":"2020-01-07T21:17:02","date_gmt":"2020-01-08T02:17:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=241655"},"modified":"2020-01-07T21:17:02","modified_gmt":"2020-01-08T02:17:02","slug":"da-sets-higher-rice-production-goal-for-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/01\/07\/da-sets-higher-rice-production-goal-for-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"DA sets higher rice production goal for 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary William Dar checks on the weighing scale of an accredited grains retailer of the National Food Authority (NFA) in a surprise visit at the Mu\u00f1oz Market in Quezon City on Friday (Dec. 6, 2019). (PNA photo by Ben Briones)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— The Department of Agriculture (DA) is targeting to produce 19.6 million metric tons (MMT) of palay (unhusked rice) in 2020.<\/p>\n

According to a statement on Tuesday, Agriculture Secretary William Dar said the projected palay harvest for this year would be 3 percent more than the estimated 2019 palay output of 19 MMT.<\/p>\n

Dar attributed the potential increase in output to the initial benefits of the government\u2019s Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) program.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe aim to harvest 19.6 million metric tons of palay, net of damage due to adverse weather conditions,\u201d Dar said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect that initial benefits of interventions under the PHP10-billion RCEF program, particularly on inbred rice seeds given free to farmers, will be realized during the dry and main season crops starting this year,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

According to the DA-Philippine Rice Research Institute (DA-PhilRice), inbred certified palay seeds produce an average of 4.54 MT\/hectare (ha) as compared to farmers home-saved seeds\u2019 yield of 3.50 MT\/ha and traditional seeds\u2019 yield of 2.13 MT\/ha.<\/p>\n

\u201cHence, with RCEF seed intervention, we would generate an incremental yield of at least one MMT, as we will provide farmers nationwide, tilling a total of one million hectares, free certified palay seeds,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In October last year, the DA-PhilRice started distributing certified palay seeds for the dry-season planting in 947 rice-producing towns and cities in 57 provinces.<\/p>\n

Under RCEF, PHP3 billion is set aside each year for certified seeds up to 2024, where farmers will receive 40 kilograms per hectare of certified rice seed varieties for every planting season.<\/p>\n

The DA chief also noted that the adoption of modern technologies, mechanized land preparation, crop establishment, and harvesting could help farmers attain an incremental yield of another one MMT of palay per hectare.<\/p>\n

Also under RCEF, the DA-Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (DA-PHilMech) will distribute PHP5-billion worth of farm machines and equipment to qualified farmers\u2019 cooperatives and associations, and local government units.<\/p>\n

PhilMech research shows that mechanizing rice farming operations can reduce total palay production cost by PHP4\/kg from the current average of PHP12\/kg.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— The Department of Agriculture (DA) is targeting to produce 19.6 million metric tons (MMT) of palay (unhusked rice) in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":240098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-241655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","mauthors-filane-mikee-cervantes","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241655"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":241657,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241655\/revisions\/241657"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}