June 26, 2007

 

Another post-harvest facility set to boost Philippine corn production

 

 

The Philippine Department of Agriculture (DA), under its Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA) Corn Programme has put up a post-harvest training facility in Sablayan town in Occidental Mindoro province to boost corn production in the area and of the entire country as well.

 

Christine Inting, in-charge of the GMA Corn Programme in MIMAROPA (Mindoro Occidental and Oriental, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan), said the facility has an earmarked fund from the P20 million (US$434,216) budget allocated by the national government in partnership with local government units to improve domestic corn.

 

She said the facility would help stabilise corn prices by eliminating middlemen and the "cartel", which manipulates the price in the market.

 

It would also minimise post-harvest losses and improve the quality of corn, thereby increasing the income of farmers.

 

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap has earlier stated the DA will undergo a massive corn planting programme this year that would involve the use of hybrid seeds to least 132,000 hectares of farmland nationwide to assist the poultry and livestock sectors in coping with rising global prices of this feed input.

 

Yap said the DA has increased its corn production target this year, from 6.08 million tonnes to 6.92 million tonnes with the special projects aimed at enhancing the profitability of corn growers and addressing hunger woes in food-deficient areas.

 

Implementation of the Corn Production Enhancement Project and the Hunger Mitigation Programme, which comprise the special initiatives this year under the national corn programme, will likewise boost corn sufficiency levels to 94.17 percent this year from 82.3 percent in 2006, Yap said.

 

He said part of the programme is the setting up of post-harvest facilities designed to minimize losses and wastages arising from inefficient drying and storage practices.

 

The additional 132,000 hectares of land covered by the corn hybrid planting programme will give an additional production of 384,000 tonnes coming from areas in 47 major provinces especially in Regions 2, 10, 12 and the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

 

DA Assistant Secretary Dennis Araullo, who is also the executive director of the GMA Corn Programme, said that with special projects in place, white corn production is expected to reach 2.811 million tonnes and yellow corn, 4.106 million tonnes in 2007.

 

About 1.329 million tonnes of white corn production will be for food use, while 710,000 MT will be for industrial use. Yellow corn is a major component of livestock and poultry feeds.

 

Under the DA's regular corn planting programme, Araullo said an additional 2,000 hectares of coconut land during the first quarter of 2007 were intercropped with corn, while 3,931 hectares of open land and 848 hectares of converted sugar lands were also planted to corn to increase the total area of existing corn lands from 67,044 hectares to 74,144 hectares.

 

The off-season production project of the GMA Corn Programme persuades farmers to plant during the months of February to April to enable them to harvest during the lean months.

 

Araullo said there is a projected seven-percent growth in production from January to June this year compared to last years level for the same period.

 

The DA's off-season production target, covering a total of 132,000 hectares, is expected to yield an additional 350,000 to 400,000 tonnes of corn this year.

 

In MIMAROPA alone, Inting said, the DA is projecting corn production to reach 64,000 tonnes for the year, a 13.4-percent increase from last year's production of 57,000 MT.

 

She attributed the projected increase in crop yield to the various government interventions that help increase farmers' produce.

 

Such interventions include the distribution of some 16 units of shallow tube wells, a sheller/debunker/thresher for every province, and three tractors.

 

Inting said the government also provides seed subsidy of P1,200 per bag of hybrid corn seeds for newly acquired agricultural lands, which is estimated to reach 1,800 hectares for the entire region.

 

The DA is also putting in place a national grains highway that would consist of strategically placed post-harvest facilities to help minimize corn production losses arising from inefficient drying and storage practices, according to Yap.

 

Along with the setting up of a national grains highway, Yap said the DA is also working in tandem with private sector to standardize corn specifications to enable the government fulfil its goal of making the Philippines self-sufficient in corn by 2009 and transforming the country into a major exporter of the product.