In a report, titled “Cost and Returns of Palay Production,” the BAS disclosed that the average cost of palay production in the Philippines amounted to P37,716 per hectare at P11.06 per kilo.
“With average yield of 3,409 kilos per hectare and a farm-gate price of P14.76 per kilo, farmers grossed P50,324. Net returns were P12,608 per hectare or P0.33 for every peso of producing palay,” said the BAS.
The BAS noted cash outlays contributed 42 percent of total production cost. On average, farmers spent P4,032 per hectare for inorganic fertilizers and hired labor at P5,039 per hectare.
Also, the agency said the average size of farm holding was 1.32 hectares while the average size of the farm devoted to palay was 0.97 per hectare. Around 46 percent of the farm parcels were fully owned, 30.23 percent were tenanted, and 11.46 percent were leased or rented.
The BAS said almost 60 percent of palay farmers nationwide used “man-animal” labor in plowing their fields. Close to 50 percent also used a two-wheel tractor.
“In levelling the palay farms, 52.67 percent of the farmers preferred the use of man-animal and 24.1 percent used man-machine labor,” the report read.
Almost all palay farmers surveyed by the BAS made use of inbred seeds. Of those surveyed, 41.22 percent reported that the seeds came from their own produce, 14.04 percent sourced the seeds from the DA, 6.89 percent from local governments, 5,44 percent from traders and 3.37 percent from seed growers.
“Inorganic fertilizers were widely used over organic fertilizers. Nationwide, the more common grades were urea [46-0-0[ and complete [14-14-14] with 63.07 and 48.29 percent of farmers reporting, respectively. The use of solid organic fertilizers was reported by only 7 percent of farmers. Top dressing and side dressing were reported by 64.47 percent and 57.89 percent of palay farmers, respectively,” the report read.
The agency found that 99 percent of palay farmers harvested their produce manually and about 80 percent of farmers nationwide resorted to solar or manual method of drying their palay.
The BAS Sirector Romeo S. Recide explained that the agency conducted two rounds of costs and returns surveys of palay production covering the periods January to June and July to November 2009.
The first survey round was in July 2009 covering 4,302 palay farmers and the second round was conducted in November 2009 covering 3,142 palay farmers.
The BAS said the survey was designed to generate data on the cost structure of palay production, average use of materials and labor inputs, measures of profitability and other socio-economic characteristics of palay farming in the country.
