RP corn output seen to jump 18% in Jan-Sept

The country’s corn production is expected to improve by 18 percent to hit 4.120 million metric tons (MMT) from January to September this year from 3.491 million MT in the same period last year.

Agriculture Secretary Luis P. Lorenzo Jr. said the bulk of the output will come from Mindanao, the country’s biggest corn producer. Mindanao is projected to yield 1.06 million MT, or 60 percent of the country’s total corn production for the period.

"The Mindanao farmers expanded corn cultivation to take advantage of the improved corn prices. The price of yellow corn in Mindanao ranges from P8.10 to 9.50 per kilo while white corn is from P9.10 to P10.30 per kilo," Lorenzo said.

Lorenzo pointed out that high corn prices in the world market are likely to be sustained in the next two years which should encourage domestic corn farmers to increase production.

Citing 2003 and 2004 forecast data of the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS), Lorenzo anticipates third quarter (July-September) corn production to reach 1.790 million MT.

This reflects an increase of 24 percent over last year’s third quarter corn production of 1.443 million MT. The BAS figures also show that first quarter corn production reached 1.534 million MT while second quarter output was only 796,000 MT.

The first and second quarter harvest figures are still higher than the 1.353 million MT and 694,000 MT registered for the same periods last year.

Ginintuang Masaganang Ani Corn Program Director Art Salazar said that for this year, the program targets corn production to hit 5.6 million million MT.

With higher corn production, end-users like livestock and poultry growers should expect prices of this major food and feed ingredient to stabilize.

The high corn prices both in the local and international market jacked up the production costs of chicken and hog producers, which in turn increased retail prices.

With the anticipated increase in corn harvest this wet cropping season, the Department of Agriculture and the National Food Authority (NFA) are providing the farmers the needed postharvest facilities to maintain the quality of their produce and sell them at a higher price.