Jasper Emmanuel Arcalas – The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The government must allocate at least one percent of the rice industry’s gross value added (GVA) to research and development (R&D) to boost yield and improve overall supply of the staple, a new study recommended.

A policy brief by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) identified R&D as the biggest factor that shaped rice production growth in the country at 27 percent.

It was followed by infrastructure (26 percent), farmer characteristics (17 percent), extension services (15 percent) and environment and other factors (15 percent).

PhilRice, an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture (DA), noted that the growth of rice yield from 2004 to 2013 stood at 1.06 percent, but it eventually fell to 0.41 percent in 2014 to 2023.

The decline was a result of the contraction in harvested area which declined from 1.5 percent from 2004 to 2013 and increased by 0.16 percent in 2014 to 2023, according to PhilRice.

PhilRice said the cumulative percentage increase in national rice production growth between 2004 and 2013 was at 27 percent, higher compared to the six-percent increase recorded in 2014 to 2023.

“The slowdown in growth of rice area harvested signals that future rice production will come mainly from higher productivity,” the PhilRice said.

In 2024, the rice GVA at current prices hit nearly P455 billion, based on Philippine Statistics Authority data. This means that P4.55 billion must be allocated for R&D programs based on PhilRice’s recommendation.

“Most of the technologies we apply today are products of previous R&D investments. Hence, new investments should be increased to ensure the availability of future sources of rice production growth,” PhilRice said.

PhilRice recommended that R&D priorities be “recalibrated” to address the evolving production landscape especially with the worsening threats of climate change.

“These priorities should also recognize and optimize new opportunities, including those offered by digital transformation,” it said.

The government should also widen and intensify farmers’ access to technology, strengthen infrastructure development and boost need-based extension support and services to further increase rice productivity in the country, according to PhilRice.

The establishment of a centralized database and real-time data analytics would help not only rice stakeholders but also policymakers in crafting necessary policies to speed up rice production growth, PhilRice added.

“This challenge is further compounded, even obscured by unstandardized, scattered, and non-interoperable data formats across various sources,” PhilRice said.

“Conflicting data governance approaches further hamper smooth data access and sharing. All these issues impair efficient, data-driven decision-making,” PhilRice added.

Published Date: June 23, 2025