Philippine expects stable corn yield despite El Nino       

Despite the destruction caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon and the expected delay in harvesting corn, the Department of Agriculture (DA) expressed confidence that corn production for 2010 will not go down drastically.

 

Assistant Secretary Dennis Araullo, chief of the DA's Ginintuang Masaganang Ani Programme for corn, also revealed that the government and the industry are currently reviewing the projected corn production for the first semester of the year in light of the damages caused by the dry spell.

 

"Corn production could still be considerable as we believe that production in the second semester of the year could offset any losses incurred by the sector," said Araullo.

 

Isabela, a major corn-producing province in the Cagayan Valley region, has already started planting as rains have been falling on the province for two weeks.

 

"Planting in Northern Mindanao and Soccsksargen regions may be delayed by a month but the corn could be harvested by November or December," said Araullo.

 

Earlier, the DA had projected that corn "self-sufficiency" will be achieved this year, with corn production target set at 8.5 million tonnes.

 

Because of the massive destruction caused by two strong typhoons in the latter part of 2009 as well as the destructive effects of the El Niño weather phenomenon, former agriculture secretary Arthur Yap had earlier refrained from setting production targets for 2010.

 

Last year, corn production grew by 1.53% to 7.03 million tonnes due to production increases in major corn-producing areas particularly in Cagayan Valley, Northern Mindanao and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

 

For January to June this year, the DA's Bureau of Agricultural Statistics had projected that production will go down by 0.29% to 3.21 million tonnes on the back of a 1.43-percent contraction in harvest area.

 

The dry spell caused by El Niño is wreaking havoc on the corn sector. Earlier, the DA projected that the dry spell will destroy as much as 175,000 tonnes of corn valued at PHP2.26 billion (US$49.87 million).

 

Corn is one of the major crops grown in the Philippines. Corn and palay account for almost half of the output of the crops subsector.