THE country's palay (unmilled rice) output for January to March 2024 is projected to rise by 1.1 percent compared to the same period last year, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.

Data from PSA showed that palay production during the quarter was estimated to have hit 4.83 million metric tons (MT), higher than the 4.78 million MT harvested in the same period in 2023.

As of Feb. 1, 2024, the revised estimate for palay production during the first three months of the year indicated a 0.6 percent increase from the initial estimate of 4.80 million metric tons as of Jan. 1, 2024.

The rice harvest area, meanwhile, was estimated to slightly decrease by 0.1 percent to 1.17 million hectares (ha) in the first quarter from 1.18 million ha of actual harvested area last year.

"Based on standing crop for the period January to March 2024, the yield per hectare of palay may increase to 4.11 metric tons or by 1.2 percent from the previous year's same period yield of 4.06 metric tons," the PSA said in a report released on Friday.

As of the beginning of February 2024, about 318,570 hectares have been harvested, equivalent to 27.1 percent of the total harvested area, which translates to a palay output of 1.29 million MT.

Of the remaining 856,310 ha to be harvested, the statistics agency said that 6.7 percent were at the vegetative stage, 56.9 percent were at the reproductive stage, and 36.5 percent were at the maturing stage.

Corn output

On the other hand, the PSA estimated the first-quarter output of corn to have increased to 2.67 million MT, up 5.9 percent from 2.52 million MT actual production last year.

The latest figure is, however, lower by 0.8 percent than the January estimate of 2.69 million MT.

Harvest area during the period, meanwhile, may have increased to 711,470 hectares or 2.5 percent higher than the 694,390 hectares actual estimate of harvest area in the same period of 2023, said PSA.

"Similarly, the yield per hectare of corn may increase to 3.75 metric tons or by 3.3 percent from its previous year's same quarter record of 3.63 metric tons," it said.

As of February, about 229,350 hectares, or 32.2 percent of the total harvest area of standing corn, are said to have been harvested, translating to 723,270 MT of corn output.

Meanwhile, the remaining 482,130 hectares yet to be harvested include 2.2 percent of corn at the vegetative stage, 51.8 percent at the reproductive stage, and 46.0 percent at the maturing stage, said PSA.