June 9, 2009

The construction of postharvest facilities and development of 10,000 hectares of land for corn in Mallig, Isabela in the Philippines sponsored by investors from South Korea will be on hold for the next few months due to a number of issues related to the importation of farm equipment and export volume.

Philippine Maize Federation Inc. (Philmaize) president Roger Navarro said the concerns of the Korea Overseas Grain investment and Development Co. Ltd. (Kogid) were the expanded 12 percent value-added tax (E-VAT) on imported farm equipment and the volume of corn that Kogid would be able to ship to Seoul.

Navarro said the Koreans also want to be assured that there will be a steady supply of corn from farmers in the area that will be developed and where the postharvest facilities will be situated.

Navarro disclosed that a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for Kogid's US$12-million investment in the corn sector was supposed to have been signed when Philippine President Gloria Arroyo recently went to South Korea for an official visit.

He said representatives from Kogid will arrive in the Philippines in September to thresh out the issues concerning the project.

Philmaize and the Philippine Agricultural Development and Commercial Corp. would be Kogid's partners in the project.

Earlier, Navarro said the project is a private-sector initiative and is seen as a way of jumpstarting the development of the corn sector.