Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr. said that while production between July and September plunged by 4.9 percent to 1.44 million largely due to Typhoon Harurot that devastated key corn areas in Luzon, off-season plantings in Cagayan Valley and early cropping in Mindanao yielded good harvest to offset the third quarter loss.
Subsequently, the country’s output is expected to increase to 4.61 million MT, or 6.76 percent more than the 4.32 million MT registered in 2002, data released by the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) show.
"Corn farmers managed to recover because of timely intervention, including the release of calamity funds for seed procurement and loan restructuring by Quedancor for Cagayan Valley farmers who had previous production loan borrowings," said Lorenzo.
At the same time, good corn prices along with a more favorable weather in the second semester, encouraged corn farmers to plant more areas, allowing corn output to improve significantly.
The BAS noted that the early cropping in Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Saranggani and General Santos City also compensated for the crop losses caused by Typhoon Harurot.
This year’s higher output could also be attributed to the intensified seed dispersal program of the government since 2003, which allowed corn yield, notably the white variety, to improve to 1.91 MT per hectare this year from the 2002 level of 1.82 MT, said Lorenzo.