Guimaras province produced 31,593 metric tons (MT) of palay in the fourth quarter of 2019, better by more than twofold (108.04%) against production in the same quarter of 2018 at 15,186 MT
The growth was fuelled by the 135.83 percent increase in the production of rainfed palay, which contributed 78.16 percent to the province’s total palay output.
Of the 31,593 MT total palay production, 24,694 metric tons (78.16%) came from rainfed farms, while irrigated farms produced 6,899 MT, contributing 21.84 percent to the quarter’s total palay crop yield.
According to the data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority, production increment during the quarter was credited to the increased harvest areas in both irrigated and rainfed farms which expanded by 43.52 percent and 130.38 percent, respectively.
The estimated total area harvested went up by 109.01 percent, from 5,173 hectares in the 4th quarter of 2018 to 10,812 hectares in the same quarter of 2019.
Irrigated farms increased by 43.52 percent, from 1,273 hectares in Q4 2018 to 1,827 hectares during the same period in 2019 while rainfed farms area harvested went up by 130.38 from 3,900 hectares in Q4 2018 to 8,985 hectares in Q4 2019.
This showed that most of the palay produced in Guimaras came from rainfed farms that are dependent on rainwater for growth and development.
Across provinces, Iloilo is the region’s major producer of palay contributing 40.23 percent to the regional total produced, followed by Negros Occidental with a large gap sharing 19.66 percent; Antique contributed 16.42 percent, Capiz by 15.26 percent while Aklan and Guimaras contributed the least with 4.74 percent and 3.69 percent, respectively.
The region produced 855,714 metric tons of palay during the fourth quarter of 2019, higher by 19.86 percent over its 713,922.8 MT produced in the same quarter of 2018.
