Agriculture

     Rice Situation

• Edgar Ventulan, National Food Authority (NFA) Bicol regional director, said  that as of October the agency maintains a rice stock of at least 1.7 million bags of rice ready for disposal in the next three months. Ventulan said the NFA has a buffer stock, including the 1.15 million bags of imported rice and some 683,000 bags, which were acquired through the agency's rice procurement program.

Among the provinces of the region, Albay has a stock position of 650,382 bags that can last up to 123 days; Camarines Sur with 227,351 good for 44 days; Sorsogon, 99,931 for 67 days; Camarines Norte, 92,722 for 69 days; Masbate, 50,174 for 36 days; and Catanduanes, 30,412 good for 22 days. Particularly in Albay, the province will have an adequate supply of rice enough for the next three months even if a strong typhoon or Mayon Volcano erupts and sends hundreds of thousands of evacuees to their temporary shelters, assured the NFA. (Inquirer.net  Oct. 23)

     Abaca Production

• The CY 2009 3^rd quarter report by the Fiber Industry Development Authority (FIDA) on the abaca supply situation in the region indicated a decline in production due to the low market demand, which was affected by the current global recession. With the sharp decrease in prices for their abaca products, farmers slowly turned to other crops for their sustenance. The region’s aggregate baling for July-September netted only 38,646 bales, lower by 22 percent compared to that in the same period in 2008. Catanduanes remained the top producer with 35,074 bales, followed by Albay with 1,567 bales and Camarines Sur with 171 bales.

In contrast, FIDA reported that decorticated abaca fiber in the region surprisingly produced 2,026 bales, some 70.83 percent over that of the previous year.  Catanduanes produced all the deco fibers for this period and these were shipped to the New Tech Pulp Mill in Iligan City as raw material for pulp production. (FIDA Region 5)