Davao Oriental Rep. Joel Mayo proposed the “Half-Cup Rice Act of 2018”, or the House Bill No. 7034. The bill is in response to the current dwindling rice supply of the country. It aims to achieve the reduction of food wastage, attain self-sufficiency in rice production, lessen consumer expenses and promote health with balanced eating.

Philippine sugar output in marketing year (MY) 2018-2019 was estimated to increase by at least seven percent from 2.10 million (M) tons from the previous year to 2.23M tons, according to the Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) report. Projections from the GAIN report, which was prepared by the US Department of Agriculture-Foreign Agricultural Service in

Inflation reached a new nine-year high of 6.7 percent in September versus the 6.4 percent in August, based on data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). Steep increases in food prices was caused by supply disruptions after the onslaught of Typhoon Ompong, stoking inflation in September, the PSA noted. Malacañang had assured that they

Earnings from the agricultural exports of the country registered a 32.3 percent growth from PhP250.8 billion (B) in 2016 to PhP331.6B in 2017, according to the latest report from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). On the other hand, imports of farm products have marginally declined by 0.3 percent from PhP594.5B in 2016 to PHP592.8B in

The National Food Authority (NFA) Council head and Department of Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol announced that it will be importing one million tons of rice for the year 2019. This year, an additional of 750,000 tons of rice will be imported to keep the prices of commercial rice in the market at bay. Secretary Piñol

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte signed the Administrative Order (AO) 13, which removes the non-tariff barriers to agricultural products.  The move was to ease the prices of basic agricultural commodities. President Duterte said that the AO would take effect immediately. Non-tariff barriers include import quotas, import permits, and sanitary permits, among others.  Aside from these, importation

Typhoon Ompong (international name: Mangkhut) made its landfall in Baggao, Cagayan last September 15, causing heavy rainfall and bringing winds of over 200 km per hour. The typhoon reportedly caused PhP21.3 billion (B) worth of damages to agriculture and public infrastructure, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC). The amount is

General Santos City—A PhP450 million budget will be used for the acquisition of two refrigerated vessels next year. According to Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Emmanuel Piñol, these vessels will be used to travel agricultural products across the country. Each will be equipped with refrigerated container vans and other facilities to cater for fish products

The Department of Agricultures’ Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) has confirmed outbreaks of African Swine Fever (ASF) in countries like China, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Russia and Ukraine. With the spreading of the disease, the BAI has banned the entry of domestic and wild pigs, and other products like pork meat and semen from these affected

From Food Navigator-Asia, “NZ’s food exports have long been dominated by lamb and dairy, but new reports highlighted the rapidly-emerging categories which displayed double-digit growth rates.      These involved 51 high-growth categories. On top are: sweet corn, cherries, mixed preserved fruits, blueberries, chilled salmon and avocadoes, Manuka honey, chilled whole salmon, filled chocolate bars,