October 23, 2013

 

 

Despite a series of typhoons that ravaged major corn-producing provinces, the Philippines' corn production this year would reach 8.13 million tonnes and exceed the 7.37 million tonnes output.

 

This was projected by the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) of the Department of Agriculture (DA).

 

Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala said the 10-% increase in corn output for the year will be achieved despite a series of typhoons that hit major corn-producing provinces such as Isabela, Cagayan and Pangasinan.

 

"The country's corn sufficiency level has improved, from 83% in 2010 to 98% in 2012, and we expect to hit 105% sufficiency by year-end," Alcala told reporters during a news briefing on Tuesday, which served as a prelude to the Ninth Philippine National Corn Congress and 2013 National Quality Corn Achievers Awards. The two events will be held from October 23-25 in Tagaytay City.

 

The country is expecting a surplus of 150,000 tonnes to 200,000 tonnes. The private sector, particularly the Philippine Corn Federation Inc., is planning to export 100,000 tonnes, said de Luna, who also serves as the DA national corn programme coordinator.

 

In its July report, the BAS projected that the country's corn production for 2013 would reach only 7.37 million tonnes, 0.43% lower than the output registered in 2012.

 

The National Corn Programme (NCP) under de Luna noted, however, that average annual yellow-corn output had been rising since 2001 at 7.13% per annum, while white-corn production has been growing at a modest 1.35%.

 

There are 750,000 hectares devoted to Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn that produce between seven tonnes and eight tonnes per hectare per cropping, based on the NCP data.

 

DA figures showed that from 2010-12, corn production grew at a faster clip of 7.5%-from 6.4 million tonnes in 2010, to 6.9 million tonnes in 2011, and to last year's 7.4 million tonnes.

 

For 2014, the DA national corn programme, with a proposed budget of PHP1.797 billion (US$42 million), targets to produce at least 8.4 million tonnes to 8.7 million tonnes of corn.

 

De Luna said the additional production would come from identified 300,000 hectares of coconut areas that could be intercropped with corn. He said the DA national corn programme is partnering with the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) to implement said corn intercropping programme.

 

The DA said more and more Filipinos have also been consuming white corn grits (or bigas-mais), as shown by increase in the per capita of 10.26 kilogrammes in 2012, from seven kilogrammes in 2009.

 

DA said corn imports have been reduced by one-half, from an average of 171,000 tonnes yearly from 2001-09, to only 91,000 tonnes from 2010 to 2012.