Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala said the crops subsector played a major role, as palay (paddy rice) and corn posted record harvests of 18.03 million metric tons (MT) and 7.41 million MT, respectively.
Last year’s palay harvest was 8.1 per cent more than the 2011 output of 16.68 million MT, while corn was 6.25 per cent more than the 2011 level of 6.97 million MT.
“Our efforts are paying off, and we would like to implement similar early rice planting and ‘Quick-Turn-Around’ or QTA scheme and cover more areas this year, and attain our sufficiency target of 20 million MT by end of 2013,” said the DA chief during a media briefing, January 21, 2013, at the DA central office in Quezon City.
