Covering 1st quarter of the year
TACLOBAN CITY – The province of Leyte has registered the highest volume of palay production as its regional production has decline in the first quarter of 2018, a report from the Philippine Statistics Authority) said.
Wilma Perante, PSA-8 regional director, told Leyte Samar Daily Express that palay production in Eastern Visayas declined by 2.1 percent from 285,616 metric tons (MT) in the first quarter of 2017 to 279,728 MT in the first quarter of 2018.
Perante said that the decline were observed among all provinces, except in Northern Samar and Southern Leyte, which posted an increase of 12.1 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively.
She said that among the provinces, Leyte produced the highest volume of palay at 147,131 MT which comprised more than half or 52.6 percent of the total palay production of the region.
Biliran, meanwhile, had the lowest volume of production (1,938 MT) accounting for only 0.7 percent.
Perante said that the total harvest area for palay in the region likewise decreased by 0.3 percent, from 89,139 hectares in the first quarter of 2017 to 88,865 hectares in the first quarter of 2018.
Biliran contributed largely to this decrease posting a drop of 83.9 percent.
Leyte recorded almost two-fifths or 38.8 percent (34,498 hectares) of the total rice area harvested during the quarter in review, while Biliran contributed the least 429 hectares accounting for only 0.5 percent, the PSA director said.
Perante said that the yield per hectare for palay in the region went down by 3.1 percent, from 3.2 MT per hectare in the first quarter of 2017 to 3.1 MT per hectare in the same quarter of 2018.
Among the provinces, Biliran and Southern Leyte posted the highest yield per hectare during the quarter in review at 4.5 MT per hectare. Eastern Samar registered the lowest yield per hectare at 2.1 MT per hectare, the director said.
(RESTITUTO A. CAYUBIT)
