Gov’t buys more local yellow corn

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) has increased the buying price of local yellow corn to P13 per kilo as it embarks on a massive corn buying program this main season to encourage farmers to plant more of this crop, which is a main component of livestock feeds.
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap on Thursday said the National Food Authority (NFA) has set aside some P3.9-billion to bankroll this massive corn buying program.
The new rate adjustment will be the second in seven months as the government already increased the per-kilo support price of yellow corn from P10 to P11.50 in November last year.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo approved last month an increase in the NFA’s buying price to P13 per kilo of yellow corn — from the previous rate of P11.50 — to help farmers cope with spiraling production costs and close the demand-supply gap for the grain.
“The government is priming itself to buy 300,000 metric tons (MT) of yellow corn in the coming main harvest. This plan was already approved by the President and the Cabinet,” said Yap.
He noted that the new support price of P13 per kilo for yellow corn nationwide, which pegs it at the same rate as white corn, will provide farmers the flexibility to sell their corn in different parts of the country through the NFA’s electronic trading system.
Under the system, Yap said a corn farmer in Bukidnon can command a price of P13 a kilo using the new support price of the NFA for yellow corn, to sell his produce to a feed miller in Bulacan.
The Bukidnon farmer can deposit his corn at the NFA warehouse in the province and the feed miller in Bulacan can pick up the stocks he bought from him at the NFA warehouse in Bulacan.
He said this could be the precursor of a futures exchange system, which will help ensure quality and stabilize prices of grains in the country.
Corn farmers have welcomed the increase in the crop’s support price, saying the move will encourage them to increase production and allow the sector to attain its production target this year, following a two percent growth decline in the first quarter of the year. [PNA]