GUIMARAS – This island province’s palay production declined by 2.30 percent from 14,455 metric tons (MT) in the first quarter (Q1) of 2020 to 14,122 MT in Q1 2021.
Of the 14,122 MT total palay output, 10,049 metric tons (71.16%) came from rain-fed farms, while irrigated farms produced 4,073 MT, contributing 28.84 percent to the quarter’s total palay crop yield.
These figures were from the quarterly Palay Production Survey (PPS) conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
“Both irrigated and rain-fed farms recorded a declining output of 2.86 and 2.08 percent, respectively,” said Provincial Statistics Officer, Nelida Losare.
She added: “The decrement is due to the decrease in area harvested on both irrigated and rainfed farms.”
Data also showed that the estimated total area harvested went down by 2.11 percent from 5,601 hectares in the first quarter of 2020 to 5,483 hectares in the same quarter of 2021.
“Harvest area on rain-fed and irrigated farms decreased: 0.98 percent lower in 2020 for rain-fed and 5.50 percent lower for irrigated palay,” Losare said.
She also cited that Region 6 produced 659,378 metric tons of palay during the first quarter of 2021.
“Guimaras produced the least among the six provinces in Western Visayas with only 2.14 percent contribution to the regional total,’’ said Losare.
The region’s major palay producer is Iloilo province contributing 53.84 percent to the total production, followed by Capiz (18.14%), Negros Occidental (11.76%), Antique (9.89%), and Aklan (4.22%)./PN
