By Annabel Consuelo Petinglay/PNA
SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique — The province’s rice production for 2018 is more than sufficient to feed its population.
Ma. Lourdes H. Fortaleza , Office of the Provincial Agriculture (OPA) rice report officer, said in an interview Thursday that the total production of the province from January to December 2018 has reached 230,396.96 metric tons.
She said that the average yield per hectare from the 65,819-hectare harvest area was at 3.50 metric tons.
The rice production is more than sufficient for Antique’s population of 594,377. “The per capita consumption in Antique is 120 kilograms per year,” she said.
Last year, Fortaleza said that rice production in Antique was even higher with 293,098 metric tons. The area planted in 2017 was 64,207 hectares.
“The sufficiency level in 2017 based on the Department of Agriculture Regional Office 6 data was even higher at 181 percent,” she said.
She said the average yield in 2017 was 3.65 metric tons per hectare.
“The sufficiency level in 2017 was a little bit higher than that of 2018 because of the monsoon rains that had damaged some of the rice crops that were already harvestable,” she said.
Last August 7, 2018, Antique was declared under the state of calamity by the provincial board because of the damages wrought by the southwest monsoon enhanced by Tropical Depressions Henry and Josie.
Per report of the OPA, the damage to crops in various stages amounted to PHP31.66 million affecting around 1,695 hectares of rice fields.
Some 2,940 farmers were also affected.
