December 31, 2010

 

Philippine corn farmers expect production to rebound

 

 

Corn farmers in the Philippines expect a production rebound to reach 7.4 million tonnes in 2011, from an estimated 6.8 million tonnes in 2010.

 

"I am very positive that because of good weather conditions, good prices, as well as the expansion in areas planted to corn, production in 2011 would surpass the expected production for 2010," said Roger Navarro, Philippine Maize Federation president.

 

The good price of yellow corn in the local market, now around PHP15-PHP16 (US$0.34-US$0.37) per kilogram, would push more farmers to go into corn planting, according to the federation.

 

Farmers are gaining the upper hand with the La Niña weather phenomenon that brought rains to farmlands in most major corn growing areas in the country proving relatively moderate, Navarro said.

 

Another factor was the "quick turn around" cropping, a system that allows corn farmers to plant their crop in rice fields immediately after palay has been harvested near Magat Dam in Region II.

 

"There will be an additional 60,000 hectares planted to corn. Assuming that production would reach five tonnes per hectare, there could be an incremental output of 300,000 tonnes of corn for 2011," Navarro said.