Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (Nov. 8, 2013) and Typhoon “Santi” (Oct. 12-13, 2013) trimmed 15 percent of the estimated 2013 last-quarter palay yield.
An estimated 343,103 hectares of paddy were ravaged by Yolanda and Santi. They would have produced more than 1.029 million metric tons (mmt) of palay, which would be equivalent to 669,050 mt of rice (at 65-percent recovery rate), based on the low average yield of 3 mmt per hectare. This would slash 5.7 percent off the targeted 18 million mmt in this year’s harvest, and 15 percent of the estimated last-quarter harvest of 7 mmt this year.
Three of the top five rice producing regions in the Philippines were lashed by Santi and Yolanda: Central Luzon, Cagayan Valley and Western Visayas. Eastern Visayas, the hardest hit by Yolanda, is also a rice-producing region, having contributed 994,972 mt to the country’s total produce in 2012.
These data are alarming and suggest that the country’s supply of this staple next year could be greatly affected. The country’s annual consumption of rice runs to 12 mmt, creating a consumption shortfall of 345,000 mt from this year’s expected palay harvest of 18 mmt or 11.7 mmt rice at 65-percent recovery rate. If the shortfall (345,000 mt) is added to the damage wrought by the two typhoons (669,050 mt) the deficit would be more than 1.014 mmt—or an 8.4-percent deficit in the country’s 2014 consumption at 33,000 mt per day.
The estimated contraction of the supply of rice could trigger an upswing in the price of grain, again adding more burden on consumers, who are still reeling from the effects of the increase in the price of grain in the middle of this year.
With the damage caused by successive typhoons that hit our country, this government must act immediately and seriously focus on strengthening the local rice industry and on building on its resilience in the face of the devastation wreaked by storms and other disasters caused by climate change.
Farmers urgently need help through a comprehensive package of support to rebuild their lives: production subsidies to immediately start planting again; desalination of rice paddies; urgent rehabilitation of infrastructure such as irrigation systems, roads and bridges; and immediate implementation of a moratorium in the conversion of rice lands into other uses.
The government must see the importance of farmers in producing enough food for the Filipino people. As we farmers perform this role, government leaders must do their part in providing adequate support instead of fattening their pockets with funds intended to support us.
—LITA MARIANO, spokesperson, Bantay Bigas, 80-A Mapang-akit Street, Barangay Pinyahan, QC
bantaybigas@yahoo.com