Seed producers buck hybrid corn seed subsidy program

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Seed Industry Association (PSIA), the country’s largest organization of private and public seed companies, yesterday expressed its strong opposition to a hybrid corn seed subsidy program being endorsed by the National Corn Competitiveness Board (NCCB) to the government’s GMA Corn Program.

In a statement, the PSIA said “seed subsidy programs are not effective as they do not address the root problem of farmers which is lack of access to credit and low adoption of right management practices that would increase their yields.”

Implementing such a program, the PSIA said, would only make farmers more dependent on government subsidies and lead them away from self-reliance.

Tthe PSIA pointed out that, previous seed subsidy programs have not increased corn hybridization based on their member-companies’ records.

In the decades of experience of PSIA member-companies engaged in hybrid corn seeds, the PSIA said, it has always been the good corn grain price that has encouraged farmers to plant hybrid corn, not input subsidy programs.

Government efforts, thus, the PSIA said, should focus on ensuring that corn farming is a profitable livelihood by supporting an acceptable grain price level that would benefit all corn farmers instead of giving seed subsidies that benefit only very few.

Seed subsidy programs, the PSIA warned, attract corruption through the efforts of individuals or parties who want to take advantage of such schemes, even as it does not let the farmer’s choice of seeds prevail.

Such practice, the PSIA said, has been due to weak mechanisms for monitoring such programs.

The seed subsidy program is not a quick fix, the PSIA insisted, but is an avenue that would adversely affect both the seed industry and corn farmers.

The PSIA pointed out that since the seed subsidy program is very costly for the government, all focus should be on long-term and sustainable initiatives such as corn grain buying stations, educational programs on corn production, and feasible post-harvest facilities.

The PSIA urged agriculture officials to eliminate the proposed seed subsidy program for corn.

The PSIA assured that it is ready to work closely with the NCCB and the government to better increase corn farmers’ productivity, but not through the proposed seed subsidy program. — Marianne Go