3Q palay production in Eastern Visayas decreases by 7.2%

By PSA-8
December 7, 2018

TACLOBAN CITY – Palay production in Eastern Visayas decreased by 7.2%, from 126,930 metric tons (MT) in the third quarter of 2017 to 117,792 MT in the third quarter of 2018.

Decreases were observed among all provinces, except in Biliran and Eastern Samar, which posted an increase of 4.6% and 4.4%, respectively. Samar recorded the highest decrease in production by 28.8%, from 33,477 MT in the third quarter of 2017 to 23,837 MT in the third quarter of 2018.

Among the provinces, Leyte produced the highest volume of palay at 40,721 MT, which comprised more than one third (34.6%) of the total palay production in the region. Southern Leyte, meanwhile, had the lowest volume of production (7,702 MT) accounting for only 6.5 percent.

The total harvest area for palay in the region went down by 4.9%, from 35,348 hectares in the third quarter of 2017 to 33,615 hectares in the third quarter of 2018. Increases recorded in Biliran (6.4%), Eastern Samar (3.6%) and Southern Leyte (1.8%) were offset by the decreases registered in Samar (19.4%), Northern Samar (0.3%) and Leyte (0.2%).

Leyte recorded less than a third or 30.8% (10,354 hectares) of the total palay area harvested during the quarter in review, while Southern Leyte contributed the least (1,646 hectares) accounting for only 4.9%.

Yield per hectare for palay in the region eased down by 2.8%, from 3.6 MT per hectare in the third quarter of 2017 to 3.5 MT per hectare in the same quarter of 2018.

Among the provinces, Southern Leyte posted the highest yield per hectare during the quarter in review at 4.7 MT per hectare while Samar registered the lowest at 2.9 MT per hectare.