Guimaras’ palay yield down by 22.49% in Q4 2020

The province of Guimaras produced a total of 24,489 metric tons (MT) of palay in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2020, lower by 22.49 percent than the 31,593-MT yield in Q4 2019, according to the generated data on Quarterly Palay Production Survey (PPS) of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

“Production decrement was recorded on both irrigated and rainfed farms: rainfed palay which accounted the bulk (75.85%) of the provincial total yield dropped by 24.78 percent during the quarter, while irrigated palay which comprised one-fourth or 24.15 percent slightly decreased by 14.26 percent with 5,915 MT from 6,899 MT in Q4 2019,” Provincial Statistics Officer Nelida B. Losare said.

The reduction in palay output during the quarter is attributed to lesser area harvested in both irrigated and rainfed farms. Area harvested to play in Q4 2020 went down by 28.01 percent with 7,784 hectares from 10,812 hectares in 2019.

Similarly, only 6,249 hectares of rainfed farms were harvested during the quarter, 30.45 percent less than last year’s 8,985 hectares.

“The decrease in area harvested during the quarter was attributed to the early harvest of main crop, the bulk of which was in September (3rd Quarter),” Losare explained

Losare ellaboarted further that 19.72 percent of area harvested came from irrigated farms while the rainfed farms shared more than three-fourths or 80.28 percent of the province’s total of palay area harvested in Q4 2020; both decreased compared to the palay area harvested by ecosystem in Q4 2019.

Comparing palay yield across provinces of  Western Visayas, Guimaras produced the least, with only 3.07 percent contribution to the regional total palay yield at 797,021MT.

“The bulk of palay output during the quarter came from the province of Iloilo, the region’s major palay producer in Q4 2020, contributing 46.54 percent to the regional total, followed by Negros Occidental which shared 21.55 percent, Antique got a portion of 13.01 percent, Capiz and Aklan with 10.83 percent 4.99 percent contribution, respectively, ” Losare said.