The Department of Agriculture (DA) welcomed the country’s record second-quarter palay harvest, saying the strong performance provides additional room to prepare for the expected impacts of El Niño in the coming months, while shifting its focus toward sustaining production through the next planting season.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. said the agency is applying lessons from the 2024 El Niño, shifting its strategy from crisis response to early preparation to safeguard both food supplies and farmer incomes.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed palay production climbed 5.7 percent year on year to a record 4.63 million metric tons from April to June, the highest second-quarter output since comparable records began in 1987.
The increase was driven largely by a 6.5 percent expansion in harvested area to a record 1.04 million hectares, reflecting favorable growing conditions, continued government support, and improved market conditions that encouraged farmers to plant more land.
Tiu Laurel said last year’s four-month suspension of rice imports during the main harvest, from September to December, contributed to improved market conditions and gave farmers a better opportunity to earn from their crops.
Despite a slight 0.7 percent decline in average yield from 4.50 to 4.47 metric tons per hectare, overall production reached a record high because of the increase in harvested area. The strong second-quarter performance also helped offset the weaker first-quarter harvest, keeping first-semester palay production at around 9 million metric tons and providing a stronger foundation for the second half of the year.
The record harvest gives the government room to rebuild rice inventories through the National Food Authority (NFA), but officials expect conditions to become more challenging in the months ahead.
Based on standing crops as of July 1, the PSA projects third-quarter palay production at 3.25 million metric tons, down 13.3 percent from 3.75 million metric tons a year earlier. While the estimate reflects crops already established at the time of assessment, the DA continues to closely monitor succeeding planting areas through field validation and remote sensing as weather conditions evolve. Initial field reports indicate that delayed planting in some areas, due to the late onset of rains and delays in irrigation water delivery, may affect production, underscoring the need for timely interventions as El Niño conditions are expected to develop in the coming months.
To manage these risks, the DA is adopting a more flexible supply management strategy that balances continued support for domestic production with timely rice import arrivals. Instead of suspending imports during the harvest season, the agency will maintain the current import policy to help ensure adequate rice stocks ahead of the 2027 dry season harvest while sustaining support for local farmers. Rice import arrivals have reached 3.5 million metric tons as of Aug. 2, 2026.
“Food security means being proactive. We must keep farmers planting despite higher costs and the threat of El Niño,” Tiu Laurel said.
To sustain planting through the wet season, the DA is pairing its supply management strategy with stronger domestic support. The NFA has been directed to expand palay procurement, while the government continues to roll out financial assistance, crop insurance, irrigation support, quality seeds, mechanization services, and investments in drying, storage, and other post-harvest facilities to help farmers manage rising production costs and climate risks.
The NFA aims to procure about 500,000 metric tons of palay during the wet season harvest at a minimum buying price of P21 per kilogram for wet palay and P25 to P27 per kilogram for dry palay. President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. also increased the agency’s procurement budget to P 12B, then up to P 20B if still needed this year from P9 billion in 2025, strengthening its capacity to support farmers while rebuilding government buffer stocks.
The DA is likewise expanding sales under its Benteng Bigas, Meron Na! program, with rice distributed through KADIWA ng Pangulo under the P20-per-kilo initiative targeted to double to 40,000 metric tons a month.
For the DA, the record second-quarter harvest is not the finish line but an important head start. The priority now is to ensure that production support reaches farmers on time, planting continues despite climate risks, and the gains achieved in the first half of the year are sustained through the second-semester harvest.
