The government’s National Corn Program (NCP) has reported that it is halfway to achieving of its 8.219 million metric tons harvest target this year.
Department of Agriculture (DA) NCP director Lorenzo Caranguian said in a virtual presser Tuesday that they are expecting that third quarter records will still show “good harvest” once farmers who have not yet harvested their corn crops complete the farming season.
Caranguian said that the main producing areas, particularly in Luzon, had already harvested their corn crops.
“Nasa more than 50 percent na ang naani as of June. We received report na ang third quarter natin ay maganda ang ani. We expect na i-boom harvest this season kasi hindi tayo masyadong naatake ng calamity. Ang production natin last year ay nasa 7.7 (million metric tons), maliban na lang during this last part of the year ay mayroon tayong malakas na bagyo, sana huwag naman,” he said.
“Sa Luzon halos harvested na ang mais, ang meron na lang ay sa Mindanao area, maganda ang klima nila ron, parang gina-garden nila ang mais. All year round ang mais, tuloy-tuloy. Ang sa kwenta natin, ang standing crop natin ngayon ay nasa 20 percent, one-fifth na lang,” he added.
He said that one of the NCP’s objectives is to attain a 95 percent sufficiency level in yellow corn and 85 percent sufficiency level in white in 2021.
In 2019, the Philippines’ top five producing regions contributed 79.66 percent of total yellow corn production and 73.49 percent of total white corn production.
The country has a total production of 5.91 million metric ton of yellow corn in 2019, which 31 percent came from Cagayan Valley, 15 percent from SOCCSKARGEN, 14 percent from Northern Mindanao, 10 percent from Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), nine percent from Ilocos region, and the remaining 21 percent from other regions.
NCP has recorded about 2.07 million metric tons production of white corn in 2019. The BARMM has contributed 24 percent, followed by Northern Mindanao with 23 percent, 10 percent from SOCCSKARGEN, nine percent from Davao Region, seven percent from the Zamboanga Peninsula, and 27 percent from other regions.
Caranguian said that on their computation, the country would have 255 days ending stock of corn in 2020. He expressed confidence that the country has “more than enough” supply of corn.
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