MANILA: The Philippines could become a rice exporter by 2014, or a year after attaining self-sufficiency in its national staple, and will study possible varieties it could sell to the international market, the agriculture secretary said.
The Southeast Asian country, the world's biggest rice buyer in recent years, has been working to expand rice acreage and build post-harvest facilities to achieve the goal of producing enough rice for domestic consumption by 2013, as well as exports of the grain, Proceso Alcala told reporters late on Thursday.
"We are still targeting self-sufficiency by the end of 2013, and we are hoping to start exporting rice by 2014," Alcala said.
The government increased the agriculture department's 2012 budget by more than 50 percent to 53.3 billion pesos ($1.2 billion), allowing it to fund projects aimed at producing 18.6 million tonnes of umilled rice next year, President Benigno Aquino said on Thursday.
That output target for 2012, a record high, is lower than a previous forecast of 19.8 million tonnes. The revision was made following a review of the country's rice programme, Alcala said.
The revised 2012 production goal is more than 11 percent higher than this year's projected output of 16.7 million tonnes.
The agriculture department would spend a third of its 2012 budget to build new, and rehabilitate old, irrigation facilities, Alcala said last month.
After purchasing a record 2.45 million tonnes rice for 2010 needs, Manila slashed its imports to 860,000 tonnes this year and is looking to buy only 500,000 tonnes next year. It has said it may increase rice imports depending on weather conditions.
Manila buys rice mainly from Vietnam, the world's second-largest exporter of the grain, and takes small quantities from No. 1 exporter Thailand.
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