The Department of Agriculture is preparing to shift up to 37,000 hectares of rice land in Nueva Ecija to mung bean production as the National Irrigation Administration repairs sections of the Upper Pampanga River Irrigation System damaged by illegal quarrying.
The disruption threatens to cut the province’s summer rice output early next year and leave thousands of farmers without a primary source of income while irrigation repairs are underway.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the damage could reduce rice production by as much as 120,000 metric tons, and diversification to mung beans is expected to cushion the impact on both output and farm incomes.
“The way to manage this situation is through crop diversification,” Tiu Laurel said. “The DA and NIA will jumpstart munggo production to provide income for affected farmers, help reduce import dependence, and support the supply of nutrient-dense food in communities.”
Tiu Laurel said demand for processed products such as hopia, ready-to-eat mung bean dishes and bean sprouts presents an opportunity for farmers, noting that mung beans can be harvested faster than rice.
The Philippines imports nearly 50,000 metric tons of mung beans annually, making the crop a potential buffer against lost rice supply and an import substitution opportunity.
Mung beans mature in about 60 days, roughly half the growing period of rice. Average yields in Nueva Ecija are about 0.7 metric tons per hectare, translating to earnings of around P22,600 per hectare at current farmgate prices of about P70 per kilo.
Tiu Laurel said the DA will manage the planting cycle alongside import controls to protect farmgate prices. He added that NIA and the DA’s High-Value Crops Development Program plan to expand mung bean cultivation by another 21,000 hectares along NIA irrigation systems as part of a broader push toward self-sufficiency.
He said better data and tighter import management will be critical to preventing sharp price drops, citing previous cycles when rice prices fell by P8 to P10 per kilo.
