DA to fund new program to boost PHL corn yield

THE agriculture department will bankroll a corn production enhancement program (CPEP) that seeks to improve local output of the critical feed material and slash the country’s dependence on imports.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) issued Memorandum Order (MO) 06 series of 2023 that outlined the guidelines of its CPEP.

The DA noted that the country still suffers a shortfall in its local supply despite increasing corn output in the past.

CPEP, the DA added, seeks to improve the yield per hectare of yellow and white corn by 3 percent annually and improve the income of farmers.

“At present, local yellow corn production is far below the total requirements of feed millers,” it noted.

“To fill in the gap, feed millers opted to import yellow corn and feed wheat from other countries,” it added.

The DA said local yellow corn production is only able to meet 59 percent of the country’s total requirement in 2021. The DA noted that feed millers have also utilized corn alternative raw materials to produce animal feeds, such as cassava.

“On white corn, there is an increasing demand for food and other industrial uses. Hence, there is a need to improve the local production of yellow and white corn to meet the country’s demand,” it said.

The CPEP will cover both yellow and white corn production on the first cropping of the year in priority production areas nationwide, according to the DA.

“Priority areas include new/idle lands, crop/varietal shifting and with average grain yield lower than 4.20 metric tons and 2.50 metric tons per hectare for yellow and white, respectively,” the DA added.

The eligible farmer-beneficiaries of the program must be registered in the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA) and with a corn production area of 0.5 hectare or wider, DA guidelines showed. Furthermore, the beneficiary is “preferably” a member of an active corn cluster organization.

Under CPEP, farmer-beneficiaries will receive a package of 19 kilograms of genetically modified or hybrid corn seeds or 20 kilograms of improved open pollinated varieties corn seeds and two bags of inorganic fertilizers, according to the DA.