Maclean et al. - 2002 - Rice almanac source book for the most important e

incidence of malnutrition among children age 2–5
(as measured by weight for age) is estimated at
30%.
Recent developments in the rice sector
Agriculture, including forestry and fisheries,
contributes about one-sixth of total GDP. Rice
constitutes about 30% of total crop area
harvested. In the late 1980s and early ’90s, maize
was the most widely planted crop in the country,
but maize area declined to about 2.5 million
hectares in the late 1990s. Meanwhile, total
harvested rice area reached about 3.8 million ha
in 1995 and 4.0 million hectares in 1999 and
2000, its highest level in history despite some loss
of agricultural land because of urbanization, land
conversion, and industrialization.
Rice is the staple food of Filipinos in most
parts of the country, although maize also contributes
20% or more of caloric intake from cereals
in parts of Visayas and Mindanao (in Cebu,
calories from maize and rice are approximately
equal). For the country as a whole, rice accounts
for 41% of total caloric intake and 31% of total
protein intake.
Because of the Green Revolution package of
seeds, fertilizer, and irrigation, national average
rice yields doubled from about 1.5 t/ha in the late
1960s to 3.0 t/ha by 1990. Yield from 1985 to
1999 increased at a low rate of 0.9% compared
with growth of 2.3% and 2.4% in the late 1960s
and early ’80s, respectively. These growth rates
are attributed to the availability of seeds of highyielding
rice varieties and farm inputs such as
fertilizer and irrigation facilities, and the increase
in area cultivated among others. Further, the
Philippines temporarily achieved self-sufficiency
in the early 1980s, but it now imports about 10%
of its annual consumption requirements. Despite
these imports, rice prices for consumers are the
highest in developing Asia (as are farm-gate
prices for farmers). The high level of prices is
enforced through an import monopoly by the
National Food Authority, which also procures
paddy from farmers at a support price and
stabilizes prices at both farm-gate and retail
levels.
Rice environments
In the mid-1990s, about 61% of rice land was
irrigated, 35% was rainfed lowland, and the
remainder was upland. (As of 2000, of the
4-million-hectare rice area excluding the upland
area planted to rice, about 67% is irrigated and
the rest is rainfed.) Much of the country’s
irrigated rice is grown on the central plain of
Luzon, the country’s ricebowl. Major riceproducing
parts of the country are Mindanao
(23%), Central Luzon (16%), Cagayan Valley
(15%), western Visayas (13%), southern Tagalog
(10%), and Ilocos Region (9%). The rest comes
mainly from various coastal lowland areas and
gently rolling erosional plains, such as in
Mindanao and Iloilo. Rainfed rice is found in the
Cagayan Valley in northern Luzon, in Iloilo
Province, and on the coastal plains of Visayas and
Ilocos in northern Luzon. Upland rice is grown in
both permanent and shifting cultivation systems
scattered throughout the archipelago on rolling to
steep lands.
Because of their higher profitability for
farmers, modern high-yielding varieties account
for the vast majority of rice production, with less
than 10% of production coming from traditional
varieties. Labor use on rice is relatively low
compared with that in many developing Asian
countries at about 60 person-days/hectare/crop.
Some of the reasons for the relatively low labor
use are the widespread use of direct seeding and
the mechanization of land preparation and
threshing in many parts of the country.
Production constraints
Along with Indonesia, rice production in the
Philippines is more severely affected by El Niño
events than in other Asian countries, and this led
to a large contraction of production in 1998. The
major effect of El Niño is a reduction in area
harvested, and rainfed areas are the most affected.
Irrigated areas are also affected, however, when
water availability in dams declines. The
Philippines also bears the brunt of many
damaging typhoons coming in from the Pacific
Ocean. There is also concern about the
deterioration of irrigation systems at least
partially because of a lack of funding for
maintenance. Rainfed lowland rice suffers from
uncertain timing of arrival of rains, and drought
and submergence—often in the same fields over
the course of a single season or in different fields
within a farm over the same season. Weeds,
drought, diseases (blast), acidic soils, and soil
erosion are major problems of upland rice in the
Philippines.
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