The National Corn Competitiveness Board (NCCB) said removing the restrictions on exporting corn would give farmers enough elbow room to ensure their profitability, particularly when farm-gate prices are too low.
NCCB Executive Vice Chairman Roderico R. Bioco said opening up the global market for local corn serves as “a viable option” for the sector and could insulate them from the decline in the farm-gate
price of corn.
“Like the sugar sector they sacrifice, say 5 percent of their production to export for the benefit of the remaining 95 percent which will be for the domestic market,” Bioco told the BusinessMirror at the sidelines of the 13th Philippine National Corn Congress which kicked off on November 22 in Pasay City.
“There are times in our industry that we would need to export a little bit as a reprieve and to stabilize local prices,” Bioco added.
Allowing farmers to export corn, he said, would prevent them from shifting to other high-value crops due to profitability concerns.
“Price is always a big signal to influence the planting intentions of farmers. [Exports] will really help a lot of farmers to go back to corn,” he said. “In Bukidnon for instance, because of the low prices of sugar, this will prompt a lot of sugar farmers to plant corn.”
The NCCB official noted that the Philippines has a big opportunity to export corn within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations region. Bioco explained that the country could capitalize on the differences in corn-planting seasons among Southeast Asian countries.
“In Indonesia their lean season for corn is usually the peak harvest season in the Philippines. We can export to Indonesia at this time,” Bioco said. “Asean is something that would make our work easier because of the
economic integration.”
The House Committee on Agriculture and Food has recently approved a substitute bill which would amend Republic Act 8178, and convert the rice import caps into tariffs.
The substitute bill included a provision which would remove the export restriction on grains, including corn.
At present, the National Food Authority (NFA) Council must certify that there is a surplus in corn production before farmers could export.
Under the substitute bill, the need for certification has been scrapped. The NFA would just have to craft the guidelines for exporting rice and corn.
1 comment
There are countries who will not allow importation of BT (GMO) Corn. Our corn are mostly BT Corn. Because their laws does not allow it or else they could have produce it and won’t have experience shortage of supply.
The corn farmers must unite to beat middlemen in corn trading. We have surplus because our livestock industry has not utilized the corn surplus for feeds. If a farmer cooperative produces corn, process the corn into feeds and raise livestock, then we add value to our corn produce.
I can help farmers willing to raise income through cooperative system.
Dean Bryan Lee
+639989152479