August 14, 2007

 

Mindanao businessmen to seek lower tariffs on corn imports

 

 

Mindanao's business sector is urging the government to allow local traders to import corn at reduced tariff.

 

Jason Magnaye, executive director of Mindanao's business council, said they agreed to a resolution appealing for lower corn tariffs due to clamour of poultry growers for cheaper feeds. The resolution -- which will be submitted to Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap at the Mindanao Food Congress this week said-- is a clear indication that poultry raisers cannot afford local corn anymore, Magnaye said.

 

Though Mindanao is the country's top corn producer, the Department of Agriculture is projecting a huge shortfall in the region this year.

 

Last year, poultry growers in the Davao region, through the initiative of the council, attempted to import corn from Indonesia. But the National Government, through the Agriculture department, blocked the move, warning the poultry could be harmed because Indonesia has the dreaded bird flu virus.

 

Romeo Serra, the council's former chairman and a plant pathologist, believed that fears were unfounded because the virus would not live with corn being transported.

 

The poultry industry in the region has been tying up with counterparts in the East ASEAN Growth Area, which is composed of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. One of the initiatives is to form a company to market Halal poultry products.

 

Because the government blocked the entry of corn from Indonesia, the company failed to take off, said Vicente Lao, the leader of the Davao region poultry group behind the move to import corn. Lao is now the council's new chairman.

 

However, Dr. Rafael Mercado, head of the Livestock Division of the Agriculture department in the region, defended the government's move, stating it did not block the export but merely wanted the importers to consider protocols to protect the poultry industry in Mindanao.

 

Sources from within both the government and the business sector, however, claimed the government gave in to some big corn producers who had feared that the entry of imported corn would bring down prices of the commodity.

 

Another issue that burdens the importers is the recent decision of the Finance department rejecting the duty-free importation of feed inputs for millers.

 

The council said the rejection is a setback to small end-users since they cannot afford inputs such as soymeal with high tariffs like commercial millers do.

 

The resolution urges the government that while it wants to protect industries with high tariffs, it "must strongly consider raising the country's corn yields to significant levels and raising a sustainable budget for research and development innovations in corn."

 

The council also said the government should also shift it focus "on strengthening the corn industry in Mindanao being the biggest corn producer in the country."

 

It also calls on Finance and Agriculture departments and "industry players" to negotiate with importers to "arrive at a substantial and justified tariff cut." It also tasks the Agriculture and the Science and Technology departments to find ways in improving corn productivity and extend "strong research and development and agricultural extension to corn farmers."