Munggo to replace rice as irrigation repair in Nueva Ecija continues

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The Philippine Star

January 4, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) is preparing to shift as much as 37,000 hectares of rice land in Nueva Ecija into mungbean production as the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) races to repair parts of the Upper Pampanga River Irrigation System (UPRIS) severely damaged by illegal quarrying.

The disruption threatens to slash the country’s summer rice harvest from Nueva Ecija, the top rice-producing province, and leave thousands of farmers without a major source of income for months.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the irrigation damage would leave a sizable dent in output this year. “This means our rice production early this year will be short by as much as 120,000 metric tons,” he said. “The way to manage this situation is to adopt crop diversification strategy, and both NIA and the DA will jumpstart munggo production to provide additional income for affected farmers, reduce our importation by increasing munggo self-sufficiency and complement the supply of nutrient-dense food in every community.

“Considering that munggo is a basic necessity, the local demand for processing such as munggo hopia, ready-to-eat munggo soup, lumpiang togue shall also be addressed and serves as opportunity for farmers to diversify their income from this cash-crop which is harvested in a shorter time than rice.“

The Philippines imports nearly 50,000 metric tons of mung beans annually, making the crop both a potential buffer for lost rice supply and an import substitution opportunity.

Mung beans mature in about 60 days, roughly half the growing time of rice, allowing farmers to recover some income while irrigation repairs continue. Although average yields in Nueva Ecija hover at roughly 0.7 metric ton per hectare, farmers can still earn about P22,600 per hectare at current selling prices of around P70 per kilo. Other mung bean varieties could yield more per hectare.