INCREASED PRODUCTION. Agriculture Undersecretary Ariel Cayanan on Tuesday (Nov. 12, 2019) speaks before the more than 1,000 participants of the ongoing 15th National Corn Congress in Iloilo City. In a press conference, he said the target is to increase the corn yield and not necessarily expand the areas covered. (PNA photo by Perla G. Lena)
ILOILO CITY -- The Department of Agriculture (DA) is looking forward to an increased yield in corn crop, one of the country’s staple food aside from serving as feeds crop for livestock and a lot of other value-added products.
In a press conference on the sidelines of the 15th National Corn Congress held in this city’s Iloilo Convention Center on Tuesday, DA Undersecretary Ariel Cayanan said Agriculture Secretary William Dar has given them a tall order for possible “export” if they pass the market access.
“Our marching order is to increase the yield without expanding (area of coverage) and lower the production cost,” he said.
He added that expanding the areas covered would mean infrastructure support and irrigation support, among others.
Director Lorenzo M. Caranguian added that on average, the production is around 1.86 metric tons per hectare for white corn but it has the potential to reach four metric tons.
The yellow corn, on the other hand, has an average production of 4.14 but it can reach up to 12 to metric tons per hectare.
Engr. Roger V. Navarro, president of the Philippine Maize Federation Inc. said based on their data, almost one million hectares of the farmland in the country are currently planted with yellow corn and around 1.25 million hectares are planted with white corn.
“We almost have one million farming families involve in the corn industry in the country,” he said.
He added that the highest average production is 3.75 metric tons per hectare except in champion areas like the province of Isabela, Soccsksargen, and Northern Mindanao where production reaches up to 12 to 16 metric tons per hectare.
The country is already self-sufficient in terms of yellow corn, now at 78 percent. And one good news is that corn production is continuously increasing, he said.
Citing the 2019 third quarter statistics released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the agriculture sector grows by 2.87 percent, with the crop sector having a significant contribution.
Among the crop sector, corn has contributed 23.47 percent.
“We are expecting that the corn industry has the potential to respond to our needs for feeds and food (for humans),” Caranguian added.
Cayanan said on the road to sufficiency, it is also taken into account the capacity to store and not just on the yield. Sufficiency, he said, is measured not by per month or per quarter but spread all throughout the year.
Meantime, highlighting the corn congress was the conferment of awards to local government units, local agriculture officers, extension workers, and associations which helped boost the corn and cassava industry in the country.
DA extended cash awards and non-monetary incentives to winners of the 7th National Quality Corn Achievers (NQCA) Awards, 3rd Cassava Cluster Management Excellence Award (CCMEA) and the 3rd DA CORNUCOPIA Awards.
Dr. Edralina P. Serrano, chair of the national technical working group for the national quality corn achievers awards, in explaining the recognition, said that the NQCA award “recognizes local government units with exceptional performance in the promotion and the development of the corn sector in the production of safe and quality corn”.
It was awarded to top performing provinces, regional agriculture offices, corn coordinators and 25 municipalities, municipal/city agriculturists and corn coordinators and 100 agriculture extension workers.
“The LGUs have an important role in ensuring local level participation in the effective implementation of the DA food safety,” she said.
The top five provinces received PHP3 million each.
Four LGUS were recognized as Hall of Fame Awardees receiving PHP2 million each.
On the other hand, the CCMEA was a recognition given to cassava clusters in the advancement of the industry. The champion received PHP5 million; PHP2 million for the first runner-up and PHP1 million for the second runner-up.
The 3rd DA CORNUCOPIA Awards recognizes the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the farmer organizations in the production and processing of products derived from the different parts of corn and cassava plants.
The champion association was awarded PHP4 million; PHP3 million for the second; PHP2 million for the third place; PHP1 million for the fourth place and PHP600,000 for the fifth place.
Their monetary incentive was for the expansion of their processing facilities and equipment. (PNA)
