Higher corn support price to keep national production goal on track in 2009

MANILA, Philippines – Corn farmers welcomed yesterday the increase in the crop’s support price to P13 per kilo as they said this will encourage them to increase production and allow the sector to attain its production target for the whole year, following a two-percent decline in the first quarter.

At the sidelines of yesterday’s celebration of the Farmers’ and Fisherfolks’ Month at the Department of Agriculture, Philippine Maize Federation (Philmaize) president Roger Navarro said the P13 support price would remove the insecurity of corn farmers over their second quarter harvests.

“We can now catch up in our production and close the supply demand gap for yellow feed grade corn,” he said.

National Corn Board vice president Rosallie Ellasus, for her part, said the higher support price for corn is “the best subsidy for farmers, even better than seeds and fertilizer support.”

Corn farmers have actually been clamoring for the increase in the corn support price since last year, but the National Food Authority decided to raise the support price from P7 per kilogram to P11.50.

The low support price, coupled with the decision of the government to accede to the request of flour millers to allow the duty-free importation of feed wheat, contributed to the woes of the local corn sector.

Yellow corn is the main ingredient for animal feed. However, feed wheat is an alternative or substitute for corn.

Following the six-month lifting of tariff cover on feed wheat, feedmillers have imported more than one million metric tons of feed wheat.

A drop in global corn prices also resulted in the importation of 350,000 metric tons of yellow corn.

However, even with the increase of the support price, the National Corn Board pressed for more reforms such as the suspension in the implementation of the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) a lowering of tariffs to between zero to five percent; the establishment and deve-lopment of corn centers; and investment incentives for post-harvest facilities and logistics.

The National Corn Board also called for the establishment of a Corn Development Authority.–Marianne V. Go, Philippine Star