Philippine rice production in the first quarter expanded by 5.34 percent to 4.14 million metric tons (MMT), from the 3.93 MMT recorded in the same period last year. The increase in production could be attributed to good weather and the use of high-yielding hybrid rice seeds. A total of 4,142,960 MT was harvested from an area of 997,687 hectares in the first quarter, compared to only 3,932,292 MT, from a bigger area of 1,081,096 hectares during the same period in 2016. Mali (West Africa) expects 8% increase in rice output to 3 million tonne in 2017/18. Mali expects to increase its rice output to 3 million tonnes in the 2017/18 season, about 8% more than the previous crop. Mali (West Africa) is second biggest rice grower after Nigeria. The ministry showed 2.78 million tonnes of rice were produced in 2016/17. The forecast of three million would be over an area of 947,878 hectares cultivated.