ILOILO – The total palay production of Western Visayas in the fourth quarter of 2024 was estimated at 818,569 metric tons, up by 10.6 percent from the output recorded in the same period last year, based on data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Similarly, the region’s total area harvested in the current period increased by 12.3 percent, registering 242,146 hectares from 215,567 hectares in the fourth quarter of 2023.
PSA said about 464,961 metric tons of the region’s production were from rainfed harvest with an increase of 21.9% percent from last year’s production. The production of irrigated palay was recorded at 353,608 metric tons – 1.4 percent lower than the production from last year’s fourth quarter.
Meanwhile, harvested area for rainfed palay increased by 23.3 percent or almost one-fourth reaching 147,631 hectares, while irrigated palay dropped by 1.3 percent or 94,515 hectares in the current period.
The province of Capiz contributed the highest growth in the harvested area with 7.0 percentage points, or 32,152 hectares in the fourth quarter.
This was followed by Negros Occidental with 3.4 percentage points, Iloilo (2.2 percentage points), and the rest of the provinces recorded at most 1.0 percentage points.
Additionally, Iloilo province accounted for 46.5 percent of the total harvested area in the region, followed by Negros Occidental with 22.1 percent share.
Capiz and Antique contributed 13.3 and 8.5 percent shares, respectively, while Aklan and Guimaras made up 5.2 percent and 4.4 percent, respectively./PN
