THE Department of Agriculture (DA) said it will seek to enhance domestic corn production in order to meet the needs of the feed and livestock industries.
In a memorandum signed by Senior Undersecretary Domingo F. Panganiban dated Jan. 16, the DA will implement a Corn Production Enhancement Project to increase the yield per hectare of yellow and white corn by 3% a year to increase the supply of yellow and white corn for animal and human use.
According to the memorandum, corn production is increasing but not sufficiently to address the needs of corn processors.
“The local yellow corn-feed sufficiency is only 59% in 2021, other feed millers are also using cassava in their feed formulation (to account for) about 6-7% of the requirement,” according to the memorandum.
In the white corn segment, demand has increased for food and industrial applications.
The program applies to both yellow and white corn for the first cropping year of 2023.
“Priority areas include new/idle lands and crop/varietal shifting,” it said, adding that the average grain yield is less than 4.20 metric tons and 2.50 metric tons per hectare for yellow and white, respectively.
Targeted farmers are those tilling at least 0.50 hectares who are on the registry system for basic sectors in agriculture database.
Farmers will be given 18 kilos of hybrid seed corn, 20 kilos of improved seed corn and two bags of inorganic fertilizer per hectare planted to corn.
The cap on the benefits is one hectare, the DA said. — Ashley Erika O. Jose