Agriculture Secretary William Dar has assured that the country will have enough rice for the rest of the year, despite the implementation of a protracted community quarantine due to COVID-19 pandemic and other developments, notably the flooding in China feared to disrupt the global rice market.

For August, Secretary Dar said that the Philippines has at least 53 days of rice inventory. “This will increase in the coming months, as we expect harvests from the wet season palay (paddy rice) cropping, starting late September,” he added.

“Our second quarter palay production of 4.125 million MT is a testament that reforms being instituted under the rice tariffication law are starting to bear fruit. Barring adverse typhoons and natural disasters in the remaining months of the year, we expect a record palay output this year of 20.34 million MT, which is 8% higher than the 2019 production,” the DA chief said.

“Our palay sector continues to exceed expectations despite challenges and the ongoing health crisis that we are facing, including other concerns, amid these challenging times,” he added.

“We are not complacent and, in fact, have been on our toes since last year when we assumed office,” Secretary Dar said. The Department of Agriculture has drawn up several rice supply scenarios to come up with a clearer projection on the ending rice stock inventory.

“All scenarios show comfortable levels of rice supply by the end of the year, which at best would be good for 98 days, and at worst, we would still have an ending stock good for 90 days,” he concluded. ### (DA StratComms)