Mindanao's corn harvest to be delayed on dry spells

Corn farmers in Mindanao have started planting corn, but the Philippine Maize Federation Inc. (Philmaize) says harvest could still be delayed by one or two months due to lack of rainfall.

Roger Navarro, president of Philmaize, also revealed that farmers in Cagayan Valley who resorted to early planting during the last week of April had to replant because there were no rains this month.

"Some parts of [Northern Mindanao and Davao] have already started planting. We hope to go full blast by June, when the rains are expected to fall," said Navarro.

Farmers should have already started planting corn by this month. Harvesting for the main crop should start by August.

The lack of rainfall caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon has resulted in extensive damage to the corn sector. To date, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said the dry spell has already damaged around 500,000 tonnes of corn.

Figures released by the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) on the first-quarter performance of the farm sector showed that corn production was down by 16.8% to 1.6 million tonnes.

BAS, an attached agency of the DA, projected that corn production from January to September will be on the downtrend, with production declining by 17% to 4.64 million tonnes during the period.

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.

The poor performance of the crops subsector slowed the performance of the farm sector. In January to March, farm-sector output posted a 2.8% decline on-year on the back of the extensive damage caused by the dry spell spawned by El Niño.