The Philippines is not in any rush yet to import rice as buffer stock for 2013, the Department of Agriculture said Wednesday.
“There is no need to import huge volume of rice [this year]. We’re not in a hurry to buy. The latest we could possibly announce if there should be an importation is on the latter part of January or early February," said Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala in an interview.
Importation will depend on the third cropping's output in February, said the department.
The government's early cropping scheme encouraged farmers to plant in April, a month earlier than scheduled, for the wet season cropping in August.
The scheme also allowed for the third cropping to bring farmers added income: its harvest is already a bonus yield. The wet season cropping produces 60 percent of the country's total palay harvest. The dry season cropping contributes the remaining 40 percent of the total.
The early cropping scheme also allows farmers avoid the period when strong typhoons usually hit the country.
The Bureau of Agricultural Statistics forecast a 7.7-percent year-on-year increase in the country's palay output to 17.98 million metric tons (MT) for 2012.
The government imports rice as a buffer against the lean months, usually from July to August. Aiming for sufficiency in rice in 2013, the government is hoping to limit its rice importation to 100,000 MT while reaching its rice production target of 20.04 million MT.
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