DAVAO CITY—The Depart-ment of Agriculture (DA) is offering incentives to farmers in the Caraga region in Northeastern Mindanao to put up demonstration or model farms in raising corn for the government’s rice-corn blend.
The DA Caraga office has coordinated with the local government units across the region to help it look for areas suitable for the establishment of white-corn production as a model farm “that would showcase to the farmers the viability of flint-type white-corn production.”
The flint type, one of six major types that also include dent, flour, pod, pop and sweet corn, is suitable for the production of the corn cereals needed in the blending with rice to produce a healthier and cheaper staple for Filipinos.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Pinol launched it here last December.
The DA Caraga said it would prefer model farms that are cluster areas with strong farmer associations.
“Other areas can also be tapped, as long as they have potential for flint-type corn production,” Caraga Regional Corn Coordinator Melody M. Guimary said. The preferred sites “should be compact and not less than 50 hectares.”
“The farmers qualified to participate in the model farm will be assisted with interventions, such as technical training, inputs and farm machinery and equipment,” she added.
The DA Caraga and the local governments have begun to benchmark the local demand of the flint-type white corn in the region “to ascertain local marketing
opportunities.”
This white-corn variety is distinguished by its hard outer covering likened to flint stone, hence its name, which serves as natural protection for the usually soft interior of the kernels.
Although it has been commonly used with processed d, industrial food and feeds, it has been recently tapped as a good source for the rice-corn blend initiated by the DA “to lessen the dependence of Filipinos on rice as their staple food.”
When it was launched here, the Philippine Maize Federation, a federation of corn-farmer associations signed a memorandum of agreement with the DA and the National Food Authority for the processing and marketing of the product.
“The rice-corn blend is also a business opportunity for cooperatives, associations or private individuals who would like to invest in processing and marketing of the rice-corn blend,” Guimary added.
Provincial Corn Coordinator Oscar Tuyor of Agusan del Norte said the blending of rice and corn is not entirely new for Filipinos, with many in the Visayas and Mindanao already eating corn as a regular staple.
“Rice can be blended with corn either on a ratio of 70:30 or 50:50, or depending on the preference of the consumer,” he said.
Lydia Apatan, an agricultural extension worker of Nasipit, Agusan del Norte, said the rice-corn blend was a welcome initiative. “Aside from helping lessen the dependence on rice among Filipinos, it is a healthy alternative since corn has a low glycemic index and is high in fiber.”
Glycemic index is a number associated with the carbohydrates in a particular food that indicates the effect of these carbohydrates on a person’s blood glucose, commonly called blood sugar.
Under the National Corn Staple Development Plan, the DA would increase production of quality flint corn for nutrition and food security and to increase the income of farmers, specifically to increase production of flint corn, from 1.952 million metric tons in 2017 to 4.91 MMT by 2022.
The DA information office said the flint-type white corn serves as a staple food of about 15 percent of the total population, mostly in the islands of the Visayas and Mindanao, in the form of corn grits.