Rice production grew more than 11% in the first four months of 2023

The rice production in the first four-month period of the year it amounted to 1 million 134,420 tons, which meant an advance of 11.3% compared to what was produced in the same period last year, according to data from the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation (midagri).

According to the Ministry, This figure is the result of the increase in harvested areas (8.7%), which registered 125,732 hectares and achieved a yield of 9 tons per hectare. This was 2.4% higher than what was registered in the first four months of 2022.

plantings are less

However, the level of sowings in the current campaign (2022/2023) is still 4.2% below the 2021/2022 campaign. The departments that still have smaller cultivated areas are Piura (−16.3%), La Libertad (−6.4%), Lambayeque (–15.5%) and Loreto (−3%).

However, other departments register an increase in planted areas. Arequipa (0.5%), Amazonas (0.7%), Cajamarca (5.2%), San Martín (1.0%), Ucayali (17.3%) and Tumbes (13.9%) stand out.

If the performance by natural regions is taken into account, until April the plantings of the coast, which represent 44% of the national production, show a decrease of 9.9%, compared to the average of the last five campaigns. While in the jungle plantings have grown by 2%, compared to the average of the last five campaigns.

Midagri also specified that, nine months after the start of the 2022/2023 agricultural campaign, the progress of rice plantings was 80%.

Agroclimatic outlook through August

The National Meteorology and Hydrology Service of Peru (Senamhi) forecast a level of agroclimatic risk between medium and high for rice cultivation on the north coast between the months of June and August 2023. This is due to the influence of the phenomenon El Niño Costero could affect the ripening stage, “since there would be cloudy and humid days in the early hours of the day, accompanied by warm temperatures with strong winds that could make harvests difficult.”

On the southern coast, the forecast temperature and precipitation conditions would not have a major impact on the level of agroclimatic risk of rice cultivation, since harvest work has already finished in the valleys of Camaná, Ocoña and El Tambo (Arequipa).

For its part, in the northern jungle a low level of agroclimatic risk would predominate, since temperatures would be above their normal values, while rainfall in June would be higher than their normal values.

“These agroclimatic conditions would be favorable for the panicle and flowering stages. In the rice-growing areas of Cajamarca (Jaén), the agroclimatic risk would be medium due to the warm temperature, which would increase the risk of pests,” said Senamhi.