W. Visayas palay output drops 13.1% as rainfed farms shrink

By Mariela Angella Oladive

ILOILO CITY — Western Visayas palay production dropped 13.1% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2026, pulled down by lower output from rainfed farms, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

The region produced 103,936 metric tons of palay from April to June, down from 119,579 metric tons during the same period last year.

The decline came as the region’s total palay harvest area contracted 9.7% to 34,180 hectares from 37,867 hectares.

Rainfed palay production posted the sharper decline, falling 39.6% to 33,407 metric tons from 55,333 metric tons.

Irrigated palay production, by contrast, increased 9.8% to 70,529 metric tons from 64,246 metric tons.

The harvested area for rainfed palay also fell 34% to 12,484 hectares from 18,910 hectares, while the area for irrigated palay expanded 14.4% to 21,696 hectares from 18,957 hectares.

Rainfed farms depend entirely on rainfall for water, while irrigated farms draw from canals, dams, and pumps. Rainfed yields are therefore the first to suffer when the rains arrive late or fall short.

Iloilo remained the region’s top palay producer, accounting for 51.7% of total output, followed by Capiz with 29.9% and Antique with 12.8%.

Aklan contributed 4.6%, while Guimaras accounted for 0.9%.

Iloilo also posted the largest reduction in harvested area in absolute terms, with its palay area declining to 16,814 hectares from 18,732 hectares.

That loss of roughly 1,900 hectares contributed 5.1 percentage points to the region’s overall 9.7% decrease in harvested area.

Capiz and Antique recorded steeper proportional declines in harvested area, at 11.7% and 23.9%, respectively.

Guimaras posted a 251.6% increase in harvested area and Aklan grew 20.2%, although both provinces expanded from small bases and together supplied only 5.5% of regional palay output.

Despite the lower production, the region’s average farmgate price for dry palay of other varieties stayed above year-ago levels throughout the quarter.

The average price was PHP 24.37 per kilogram in April, up 24% year-on-year; PHP 23.45 in May, up 19.1%; and PHP 23.16 in June, up 24.3% from PHP 18.63 per kilogram in June 2025.

The second-quarter result extends a losing run. Western Visayas palay output fell 18.1% in the first quarter of 2026, to 450,154 metric tons from 549,512 metric tons, based on preliminary PSA data released May 29.

The back-to-back declines follow a year of modest growth. Regional palay production rose 1.5% in 2025 to 1,485,758 metric tons from 1,463,497 metric tons in 2024.

Weather remains the dominant variable behind the rainfed losses. Iloilo endured danger-level heat through May 2026 before farmers saw relief from the monsoon rains, and the state weather bureau has indicated that the dry spell could persist until early 2027.Regional palay figures exclude Negros Occidental, which was separated from Western Visayas under Republic Act No. 12000, the Negros Island Act, so the current and year-earlier totals cover the same five provinces.

The PSA draws its estimates from the Palay Production Survey and the Farm Price Survey. Production refers to the volume actually harvested during the reference period, while farmgate price is the amount farmers receive at the farm rather than farther along the supply chain.

The net picture is a region where irrigation is holding the line while rainfed farming, which still covers more than a third of the harvested area, absorbs nearly all of the loss.