Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala admitted the harvest was down to 6.62 million metric tons (MT), down by 750,000 MT from the output of 7.37 million MT for the first semester of 2009.

Palay output slid by 10.24 percent for the first semester and if the wet cropping season doesn’t produce much of the staple, the country may have a shortage and need new importations.

Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala admitted the harvest was down to 6.62 million metric tons (MT), down by 750,000 MT from the output of 7.37 million MT for the first semester of 2009.

He admitted that unless the weather becomes kinder and if the intervention measures set in motion by the Department of Agriculture (DA) won’t suffice, the country will have to import rice anew.

However, he stressed the volume would not be in the vicinity of the 2.45 million MT imported by the previous administration.

The Philippines did not import rice in 1991, 1992, and 1994 but foreign purchases escalated from 2001 onwards.

Alcala has set 2013 as the year when the country would no longer import rice.

By that year, he expects farmers to shift to good seeds, noting that 70 percent of the seeds planted by tillers are not productive enough to bridge the gap between the annual per capita consumption of 128.9 kilos, another world record.

Alcala stressed El Niño was the culprit and explained the prolonged dry season was bad for rice, which is dependent on adequate rainfall and irrigation water to increase yield.

Nonetheless, he is not backing down on his vow to end dependence on imports and said he is cutting a deal with local government units (LGUs) and even non-government organizations (NGOs) to help in distributing certified seeds (CS) that yield between a low of 13 percent and a high of 20 percent among those who employ good agricultural practices (GAP).

Overall, agriculture careened off track, registering a 2.59 percent contraction for the first six months, with the crops subsector showing the biggest decline at 6.72 percent.

Total agricultural value for the first semester was P607.8 billion, still higher by 1.75 percent from the same period in 2009.

Crops contribute 44.83 percent of the total agricultural output.

Corn, which should have benefited from drought since it is a dry crop, also hit rock bottom, with output down by a significant 24.95 percent. This bodes ill for livestock and poultry growers.

However, livestock inched up by 2.11 percent and contributed 12.27 percent of total agricultural production.

The dairy industry grew 17.39 percent and carabao production was up 6.03 percent.

Poultry grew even better at 2.46 percent, giving consumers some assurance that there will be enough supply of meat and eggs in the coming holiday season.

Livestock and poultry are the better performers for the first half, while fisheries, the usual good player returning a slight decline in output at 0.11 percent.

Alcala said in spite of the bad numbers, he is confident that there will be enough food in the pantry, saying the propagation and dissemination of certified seeds in the lowlands and uplands would increase the output in the next seasons.

The DA chief is intent on promoting these types of seeds to raise output quicker and added that by intensifying work on irrigation facilities, he hopes that the initial slump would be overcome.