Low farmgate prices in 2025 seen behind decline in Q1 palay output - BusinessWorld Online

Low farmgate prices in 2025 seen behind decline in Q1 palay output - BusinessWorld Online

LOW FARMGATE PRICES in late 2025 gave farmers little incentive to plant, likely leading to a decline in first-quarter output of palay (unmilled rice), analysts said. “The palay harvested in the first quarter of 2026 was planted in the last quarter of 2025, during which time palay prices were severely depressed, even with the import ban,” Raul Q. Montemayor, national manager of the Federation of Free Farmers, told BusinessWorld. Mr. Montemayor sa…