Angelina Lucena, NFA-South Cotabato assistant provincial manager, said Wednesday they have started clearing their warehouses in the province in preparation for the influx of palay harvests starting September.

She said their warehouses will serve as their main buying stations for their intensified palay procurement during the harvest season.

Lucena said they have leased two additional warehouses in the rice-granary towns of Norala and Surallah to accommodate more palay harvests from the area during the harvest season, which usually extends to about three months.

She said their warehouses at the NFA provincial office in Koronadal City may accommodate 110,000 bags of palay while those located in the province’s upper valley area may store up to 70,000 bags.

South Cotabato’s upper valley area covers the palay-producing towns of Banga, Surallah, Sto.

Nino, Norala, T’boli and Lake Sebu.

“We’re expecting an increase in palay production this harvest season so we will also be aggressive with our palay procurement,” she said in a media forum in Koronadal City.

Reynaldo Legaste, South Cotabato Agriculture Office chief, said they expect a significant increase in the volume of palay harvests in the province from late August until October.

“From the last week of August until the first half of September, we have an estimated palay harvestable area of 15,000 hectares, which is about 80 percent of our total palay production area,” he said.

From January to July this year, Legaste said the province already produced 107,331 metric tons (MT) of palay or 3.6 percent higher compared to last year’s production of 103,562 MT during the same period.

With the expected surge in palay production in the coming months, he said they expect the province to post a production surplus of 30 percent by the end of the year.[]