THE Department of Agriculture (DA) is now pinpointing up to 80,000 hectares of farmland in Visayas and Mindanao where palay could be planted up to mid-September to offset the projected losses in palay production in Luzon due to the dry spell.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap said additional planting in 50,000 has. to 80,000 has. of land in the Visayas and Mindanao could augment palay production by as much as 300,000 metric  tons (MT) this year.

The additional planting is part of the DA’s quick-turnaround planting program involving a third planting season after the two regular ones with the use of early-maturing seeds in fully irrigated areas.

The DA noted that for the rest of the year, the entire population of the country would need about 4 million metric tons (MMT) of rice based on the daily consumption rate of 32,000 MT.

Yap said half is already accounted for by the National Food Authroity, commercial sellers and households that collectively hold 70 days worth of rice stocks.

Before the effects of the dry spell could be felt, palay production went up to 6.73 million MT in the first semester as a result of the expansion of harvested areas, especially in irrigated farms.

Earlier, documents from the Ginintuang  Masaganang Ani (GMA) Rice Program of the DA showed that the country’s target to produce 9.11 MMT of palay from the wet season cropping during May to October this year is being threatened by the prolonged dry spell.

Figures from the GMA Rice Program show that Region III—where top palay-producing province Nueva Ecija is situated—is expected to suffer losses because of the prolonged dry spell.

Under normal conditions, the DA has targeted to produce 3.45 MMT of palay using good seeds; 4.78 MMT of palay using certified seeds; and 887,495 MMT using hybrid seeds during the wet season cropping. These are supposed to be planted to 2.3 million hectares of rice lands.

The prolonged dry spell, however, has forced the DA to pare down its growth expectations, especially in the case of palay. 

In the case of Region III, figures from the GMA Rice program show that production could be cut by as much as 40,225 MT in the event of a mild dry spell, and as much as 131,575 MT in the event of a drought until the end of the year.

The palay-producing provinces in the region are Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac, Zambales and Aurora. Hardest hit would be Bulacan and Nueva Ecija.

Region III is expected to be the top producer of palay during the wet cropping season. The region is projected to produce 1.66 MMT of palay.

Another top palay-producing region is Region VI or Western Visayas. Production in this region is expected to deliver 1.17 MMT of palay. Region II, or the Cagayan Valley, is expected to produce 1.16 MMT of palay during the wet cropping season.

TARGETING to lower power rates through competition and at the same time rake in much-needed revenues, President Arroyo, in a briefing with economic managers Monday, directed the Department of Energy (DOE) and its attached agencies to implement open access in private and publicly owned ecozones and speed up the privatization of the generation and transmission assets of the government.

THE Department of Justice (DOJ) has affirmed the authority of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to supervise the operations and limit the volume of minerals to be extracted by small-scale mining firms.

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) is now pinpointing up to 80,000 hectares of farmland in Visayas and Mindanao where palay could be planted up to mid-September to offset the projected losses in palay production in Luzon due to the dry spell.

SORSOGON CITY—Every year, the red-tide phenomenon infecting Sorsogon Bay since late last year,  feared to stay on for the next 25 years, would be costing this city P100 million in lost income and other economic benefits.

THE country’s real-estate tycoons stand to benefit from the decision of China to open up to the region its property management and development sector as part of its offer under the trade in services chapter of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)-China free-trade agreement (FTA).

THE United States government has given the Philippines a sugar quota allocation of 142,160 metric tons (MT) of raw cane sugar for fiscal year (FY) 2008 which starts from October 1 this year up to September 30 next year.