Region 6 remains rice sufficient amid pandemic

Western Visayas remains rice sufficient in the first semester of 2021 amid the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Department Agriculture Regional Field Office 6 (DA-RFOS 6).

In a virtual press briefing Tuesday, DA-6 Regional Executive Director Remelyn Recoter reported that the region’s rice sufficiency level is 138.73%.

“Very much sufficient ang whole Western Visayas except for two provinces, Negros Occidental kag Aklan,” she said.

Except for the provinces of Aklan and Negros Occidental, all the other areas in Western Visayas attained more than the prescribed rice sufficiency level.

The province of Capiz recorded the highest rice sufficiency level at 186.76% followed by Antique (181.17%), Iloilo (169%), and Guimaras (152%).

Aklan has 96% sufficiency level while Negros Occidental has the lowest at 87%.

Meanwhile, palay production in the region during the first semester maintained its high performance with 818,600 metric tons (MT) or an average yield of 2.58 MT per hectare.

Recoter said Western Visayas is among the top performing regions in the country in terms of rice production.

“In fact, we maintained a high performance. And kita ang highest from 2019 to 2020 among the regions,” she said.

Recoter noted that the agriculture sector managed to be the saving grace of the economy of Western Visayas which is reeling from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Despite the huge contraction in the economy of Region 6, the agriculture, forestry, and fishing (AFF) sector grew by 6.2 percent in 2020.

Data from the Philippines Statistics Authority in Region 6 (PSA 6) indicated that the AFF accounted for 19.9 percent of the region’s economy. (ERS)