JORDAN, Guimaras – This island province produced 681 metric tons (MT) of palay (unhusked rice) in the second quarter of 2020, increasing by 312.73 percent from the 165 MT of palay produced in the same quarter last year, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.
More than two-thirds or 77.97 percent were irrigated palay with 531 MT yield while the 150 MT were rain-fed palay which comprised 22.03 percent of the province’s total palay produce in the second quarter. Both increased compared to the palay yield by ecosystem in the second quarter of 2019.
Rain-fed palay production, however, significantly increased by 455.56 percent while irrigated palay improved by 284.78 percent.
Similarly, area of palay harvested in second quarter this year increased by 107.59 percent (301 hectares), with irrigated palay taking up 65.78 percent (531 MT) and rain-fed palay taking up 34.22 percent (150 MT), compared to the 145 hectares harvested in the second quarter of 2019.
Guimaras contributed 681 MT (0.56 percent) to the total palay production of Region 6, while Capiz has the highest contribution of 40.68 percent (49,297.01 MT) followed by Negros Occidental (22.88 percent) and Iloilo (15.62 percent) for the second quarter of 2020.
The Quarterly Palay Production Survey of PSA is one of the major agricultural surveys conducted by the PSA where estimates of production and harvest area of palay are generated from four survey rounds in a year: January, April, July, and October./PN
