January 4, 2007
Philippine corn output may hit 6.31 million tonnes for 2007
The Philippines expects to break last year's record corn production, setting a goal of 6.31 million tonnes for 2007.
That would mark a 3 percent increase from the record harvest of 6.14 million tonnes in 2006, a senior official at the Department of Agriculture said Wednesday (Jan 3).
Last year's harvest was in line with the government's projections.
For the first quarter of 2007, the department has set an output target of 1.73 million tonnes, up 13 percent from the first three months of last year, said Agriculture Assistant Secretary Dennis Araullo, programme director for corn.
The positive outlook for this year stems from the government's commitment to developing post-harvest facilities and farmers' increased usage of high-yielding hybrid seeds, Araullo said.
The government has allocated funds from the Department of Agriculture's budget to support the construction of these facilities and to subsidise the farmers' usage of hybrid seeds. Each facility costs roughly 30 million pesos (US$614,000) to build.
Three post-harvest facilities are already in operation in the southern Mindanao region, where about 60 percent of the country's corn output comes from. The other 11 will be up and running later this year in other high-yielding regions, but Araullo didn't say when.
The government plans to establish a total of 14 post-harvest facilities, which include dryers, shellers and storage centers. "Hopefully, we will be able to significantly reduce post harvest losses through our grain centres," Araullo said.
In November, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said the country is likely to become self-sufficient in corn by 2008 by producing at least 6.5 million tonnes of the grain.
The Philippines imported 258,000 tonnes of corn in 2006.
The positive view on corn may help boost the outlook for the Philippines' overall agricultural production, which accounts for a fifth of the country's gross domestic product.
