Over 1-M MT palay lost due to El Niño, typhoons

The country has lost over one million metric tons (MT) of palay supply so far this year after farms were devastated by extreme weather conditions that included the El Niño phenomenon and the series of typhoons, with Kristine being the most devastating to date.

- By JASPER EMMANUEL ARCALAS

Since January, the local rice industry has lost about 1.024 million MT of palay or unmilled rice as of Nov. 4, based on the damage reports of the Department of Agriculture (DA).

Severe Tropical Storm Kristine alone accounted for half or about 516,438 MT of the recorded production losses in the rice industry, according to the DA.

Before Kristine, the DA had already recorded 507,564.39 MT in palay losses because of El Niño and the series of weather disturbances.

The recorded palay production losses so far have breached the average annual losses of 500,000 MT to 600,000 MT, according to agriculture officials.