The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) eyes the adjustment of its cropping calendar to October instead of March to ensure sufficient farm yield and minimize rice imports.
This means implementing two cropping periods during the dry months, with the first one from October to January and second lasting from February to May.
The agency said the adjustments should help reduce crop damage during the wet months of the year when typhoons often visit the country.
Citing data from the Bureau of Plant Industry, the agency said the Philippines imported 3.22 million metric tons of rice from January to December last year, equivalent to 5 million MT of palay.
Consistent with the proposed shift and minimizing the compulsion to import rice, Eduardo Guillen, NIA administrator, said the agency has fast-tracked the pursuit of existing and new irrigation projects and the use of high-yield hybrid varieties of palay.
Guillen said convergence efforts with the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Public Works and Highways as well as with other national government agencies, local governments and the private sector in irrigation development will be pursued.
NIA is the lead agency in developing all possible sources of water for irrigation.
