June 5, 2010

 

Philippines 2010 corn output forecast at 7.2 million tonnes

 

Banking on the possibility of a recovery in the second semester, the Department of Agriculture (DA) sees corn production at 7.2 million tonnes for the entire 2010.

 

Agriculture Assistant Secretary Dennis B. Araullo, who is also director of the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani corn programme, noted that farmers in major corn-producing provinces have already started planting as the rains have started to fall.

 

The department is also pinning its hopes on the farmers' use of high-yielding varieties to prop up production.

 

The lack of rainfall caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon has caused extensive damage to the corn sector. To date, the 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.

 

Earlier, corn farmers led by the Philippine Maize Federation (Philmaize) said they will have a hard time achieving the 7.2-million-tonne target production of the government for 2010.

 

At best, Philmaize president Roger Navarro said, the sector could produce around 6.8 million tonnes.

 

The targeted corn production for 2010 is 2.4% higher than the 7.03 million tonnes produced in 2009.

 

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.