The Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Friday, Aug. 18, that the provinces of Isabela, Nueva Ecija, and North Cotabato have started harvesting rice which will augment the supply of such staple and help stabilize its price. 

Agriculture Undersecretary for Rice Industry Development Leocadio Sebastian said the three provinces have so far produced 900,000 metric tons (MT) of rice. 

Farmers from the three provinces were able to plant early in May, or earlier than other rice-producing areas in terms of harvest operations, he said. 

According to the DA, the initial harvest of rice from the current wet season crop will take place until September. 

Sebastian said rice harvest will peak in late September to October, contributing largely to the country's second semester (July to December) production which is estimated at more than 11 million metric tons (MMT). 

“Barring strong typhoons in the coming months that may adversely affect Central and Northern Luzon, we are aiming to harvest up to 11.5 MMT in the second semester of the year,” the agriculture official said.

“This would breach the 20-million MT total national palay production, making it a record, being the highest in the country's history," he went on. 

Recently, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) released a report about the rice output from January to June 2023 stating that it went up to 9 MMT, from 8.7 MMT produced for the same period last year and in 2021. 

The said figure was even higher than what the agriculture department earlier projected. 

The DA said that the higher production was a big boost to the country’s sufficient rice supply until the end of this year even with the impact of Super Typhoon "Egay."