Caraga’s palay production decline by 7.07 percent in 2021

Caraga’s total palay production in 2021 dropped by 7.07 percent from 503,331 metric tons in 2020 to 467,744 metric tons in 2021. The decrease of production was attributed by the diminution of area harvested to 5.25 percent. Total area harvested in 2021 was estimated at 147,878 hectares which was 8,195 hectares lower compared with last year’s level of 156,073 hectares. Likewise, the yield per hectare decreased by 1.92 percent from 3.22 metric tons per hectare in 2020 to 3.16 metric tons per hectare in 2021.

Production of irrigated palay contributes 63.50 percent to the total palay production in the region. It exhibited a negative growth of 11.24 percent from 334,642 metric tons in 2020 to 297,026 metric tons in 2021. On the contrary, rainfed palay increased by 1.20 percent in 2021 registering a total harvest of 170,717 metric tons. It contributes 36.50 percent to the total palay production in the region.

Irrigated palay areas comprised 59.80 percent of the total area harvested in the region. The total area harvested for irrigated palay dropped by 9.07 percent from 97,247 hectares in 2020 to 88,424 hectares in 2021. However, Rainfed palay areas recorded an increase of 1.07 percent from 58,826 hectares in 2020 to 59,454 hectares in 2021.

As shown in Figure 3, Caraga’s average yield of palay dropped to 3.16 metric tons per hectare in 2021 from 3.22 metric tons per hectare in 2020. The decline was attributed by the decrease in the yield of irrigated palay from 3.44 metric tons per hectare to 3.36 metric tons per hectare. On the other hand, rainfed palay yield posted an increase in 2021 by 0.13 percent from 2.87 metric tons per hectare in 2020.

Among the provinces in the region, Agusan del Sur consistently posted the highest share with 54.99 percent of the region’s total palay production in 2021. Surigao del Sur rank second with 16.13 percent share followed by Agusan del Norte with 13.83 percent share. Meanwhile, the provinces of Surigao del Norte and Dinagat Islands shared only 13.68 percent and 1.37 percent, respectively. (Refer to Figure 4, Percent distribution of palay production by province, Caraga: 2021)

Figure 5 shows the percent distribution of area harvested by province in 2021. Of all the provinces in Caraga, the province of Agusan del Sur remains the highest contributor with a share of 54.52 percent of the region’s total area harvested. It was followed by the provinces of Surigao del Sur and Agusan del Norte with 16.89 percent and 13.77 percent share, respectively. Fourth in rank was the province of Surigao del Norte with 12.87 percent share. Meanwhile, the province of Dinagat Islands contributed 1.95 percent of the total area harvested in the region.

Caraga’s actual volume of palay production by province in 2021 was shown in Figure 6. The province of Agusan del Sur posted the highest volume of palay harvested among the five provinces recording 257,215 metric tons in 2021. It was followed by the province of Surigao del Sur and Agusan del Norte with a total volume of 75,469 metric tons and 64,669 metric tons, respectively. While the province of Surigao del Norte and Dinagat Islands produced 63,998 metric tons and 6,393 metric tons, respectively.

The total area harvested for palay in Caraga by province in 2021 is shown in Figure 7. It shows that the largest portion of the area harvested in the region was noted in the province of Agusan del Sur comprising 80,622 hectares. This was followed by the province of Surigao del Sur and Agusan del Norte with 24,975 hectares and 20,368 hectares, respectively. The province of Surigao del Norte posted a harvest in 19,031 hectares while the Province of Dinagat Islands harvested only 2,882 hectares of palay for the year 2021.

TECHNICAL NOTES

The Palay Production Survey (PPS) is one of the major agricultural surveys conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) which aims to generate estimates on palay production, area, yield, and other production-related data. Data generated by this survey will serve as inputs to the Performance of Agriculture Report (PAR) and accordingly to the preparation of the Gross Regional Domestic Product (GDP). Moreover, the survey supports the data needs of planners, policy and decision makers, and other stakeholders in the agriculture sector.

Production refers to quantity produced and actually harvested during the reference period. It includes those harvested but damaged, stolen, given away, consumed, given as harvesters’ and threshers’ shares, reserved, etc. Palay production from seed growers which are intended for seed purposes is excluded from the survey.

Irrigated palay refers to the palay crop that requires standing water for its normal growth, not confined to lowland but also to high places where paddies are built for planting rice, requires irrigation water made available through artificial means (gravity, force, power pumps, etc.).

Rainfed palay are palay crops that depends solely upon rainfall for its water supply; usually planted through transplanting or direct seeding in fields with dikes that retain water. There may be dikes in the field to hold water in the case of lowland-rainfed, or none in the case of upland palay.

Area harvested refers to the actual area from which harvest are realized. This excludes crop areas which were totally damaged. It may be smaller than the area planted. Area planted refers to the actual physical area planted. This generally applies to area reported for permanent crops and multi-harvest temporary crops.

Approved by:

(Sgd.)ROSALINDA CELESTE-APURA, D.M.
Regional Director
Philippine Statistics Authority - RSSO XIII
Tel. No.: (085) 225-5219/ Telefax No.: (085) 815-4935
Email add: psacaraga_rsso13@yahoo.com