The charter of the National Food Authority (NFA), as well as laws governing the export of grains, should be amended to allow corn farmers to tap the export market, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said on Thursday.
Piñol said he would make this recommendation to President Duterte during the Cabinet meeting on Monday. The Department of Agriculture (DA) said total corn harvest this year, which is projected to reach 8.1 million metric tons (MMT), is “more than enough” to meet domestic requirement.
“For the first time in history, the Philippines is ready to export corn to neighboring countries in the region, as corn harvests this year will exceed the 5.6 MMT domestic requirement,” he said in a statement.
“Based on the report of national corn program coordinator Federico E. Laciste Jr., corn harvest would hit 8.1 MMT despite the series of natural calamities that hit the country,” Piñol added.
He said the production of cassava, which is also used in manufacturing animal feeds, would reach 570,000 metric tons (MT) this year. This, he said, would further stabilize corn and animal-feeds supply in the country.
“In 2016, despite the seven-month drought which ravaged the country’s agricultural areas, the country harvested 7.5 MMT of yellow and white corn, while cassava production reached 536,000 MT,” Piñol said.
The NFA oversees the regulation and stabilization of grains prices and supply in the country. Before farmers could export grains, such as corn, the inter-agency NFA council must first declare that there’s a surplus, according to Presidential Decree (PD) 4.
“In the exercise of this power, the Authority shall directly undertake the exportation of rice, corn and other grains and/or their substitutes and/or by-products/end-products whenever there is an excess in production and/or supply, or it may allocate export quotas among certified and licensed exporters,” PD 4 read.
“Provided, however, that the council shall first certify after to such excess production and/or supply after proper consultation with the Office of the President,” it added.
Exporting yellow corn, Piñol said, would help stabilize the farm-gate price of the produce. He said he is eyeing to export corn to Malaysia, Taiwan and South Korea. Data from the (PSA) showed that the average farm-gate price of corn fell to P10.85 per kilogram in December 2016, from P11.50 per kg recorded a year ago.
Based on the report of the PSA on the country’s food sufficiency, corn self-sufficiency ratio (SSR) was pegged at only 91.35 percent in 2015, the lowest since 2011. The SSR shows the extent to which a country’s supply of commodities is derived from its domestic production, according to the PSA.
Philippine Maize Federation Inc. (PhilMaize) President Roger V. Navarro told the BusinessMirror that a supply glut is not possible if imported feed wheat and corn would not be taken into account.
“What [the government] did was to include imports with local production. The DA combined imports with local production so there will really be a surplus,” Navarro said. The PhilMaize chief noted that local corn is not being bought because of imported feed alternatives, such as feed wheat.
The group has been asking the government for years to allow them to export corn, particularly when farm-gate prices are low due to a supply glut.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes