August 6, 2007

Philippine corn output falls below target in H1

The dry spell that is currently hitting the Philippines has the country's production of yellow and white corn fall by 7 percent in this year's first half.

From January to June, 2.7 million tonnes of corn were harvested, 5.5 percent higher than the same period last year but below a goal of 2.9 million tonnes, government data on Sunday (August 5) showed.

Drought has hampered harvests in the Southeast Asian country and the government said it may issue a tender for the import of 200,000 tonnes of yellow corn, which is largely used for livestock and poultry feed.

The Philippines has 1 million hectares of land devoted to corn production and the Department of Agriculture targets to have 65,000 hectares of new corn lands by 2008 to increase sufficiency in yellow corn by 90 percent.

The government has a production target of 4.1 million tonnes for yellow corn this year and demand is expected to reach 4.6 million tonnes as the livestock and poultry population increases.

The Philippines wants to make itself self-sufficient in corn by 2010 and is providing farmers with new technologies and post-harvesting facilities to help meet that goal.