January 25, 2011

 

Philippine corn production to increase this year

 

 

Philippine's corn output is predicted to reach at least seven million tonnes this year, an almost 10% rise from 2010, thanks to better weather conditions, an industry official said.

 

"We are seeing corn production to reach seven million tonnes this year," Roger V. Navarro, president of the Philippine Maize Federation, Inc.

 

Mr. Navarro said that the upward "trend" is due to the better weather conditions expected this year, as opposed to the dry spell experienced by the country in the first half of last year.

 

Corn output in 2010 reached 6.38 million tonnes, 9.25% lower than output in the previous year.

 

Mr. Navarro said the favourable weather conditions will encourage the farmers to plant more and in turn, increase output.

 

"We urge the government ...to implement infrastructure projects nationwide to augment recovery in our postharvest losses ...and guarantee corn quality and storage or shelf life," Mr. Navarro said.

 

Sought for comment, Dennis R. Araullo, national coordinator of the government's Rice and Corn Program, agreed with the expected corn output rebound this year. However, the department has yet to set its target for corn production this year.

 

The University of Asia and the Pacific Centre for Food and Agri Business, during a conference last month, said it also expects corn output to reach at least seven million tonnes. "Corn production is estimated to recover from the dry spell to more than the 2009 level of seven million tonnes. This will be driven by increase in area and yield given favourable market prices and weather conditions," the institution said in its Agricultural Scenarios 2010-2011 report.

 

The Agriculture department's Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) forecast a higher first half corn output in its Rice and Corn Situation Outlook report last Friday (Jan 21), citing an increase in harvest areas and improvement in yield due to favourable weather.

 

Corn output could increase by 36.36% to 3.293 million tonnes in the first half this year from 2.415 million tonnes in the same period last year, BAS said.

 

The harvest area for corn is expected to increase to 1.12 million hectares in the first half from 967,000 hectares last year, while yield per hectare may increase to an average of 2.95 tonnes from 2.50 tonnes last year.