Rice parameters updated policy-making to improve

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) is updating its parameters on the rice value chain, particularly the milling recovery rate of palay, to improve the government’s statistics and decision-making in the sector.

- JASPER EMMANUEL ARCALAS

The PSA said it conducted a focus group discussion (FGD) with various rice industry stakeholders, from academe to industry players, about updating its statistical parameters related to rice.

“The PSA gathered experts from the rice industry from both the government and private sector to solicit inputs and vital information that are useful in the validation of the current parameters used in the compilation of the supply utilization accounts (SUA),” the data agency said.

According to the PSA, the SUA is a comprehensive statistical framework for the physical accounting of agriculture and fishery commodities produced in the country.

Policymakers use the SUA in crafting programs and projects in the agriculture sector as it involves the country’s total supply of commodity, losses and wastage, production and imports, among others, in a given period.

The PSA said the FGD recommendations, field visits and critical information interviews would be inputs in its upcoming updated SUA parameters.