DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 29 Jan) – The Davao Region’s corn production last year increased by 23.5 percent compared to the previous year, harvesting a total of 280,293 metric tons compared to 2013’s 227,013 MT as corn production areas continued to expand with the help of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Herna Palma, field operations division supervising agriculturist of DA XI, said in a press statement that they implemented interventions like distributing quality seeds to farmers and implementing of extension activities.
Activities included training and distribution of technology, investments in farm mechanization and advancement of harvest facilities to reduce production losses.
“With the promising output of Davao Region in 2014, DA XI will do its best to steadily increase the level of corn productivity since our commitment is the welfare of the corn farmers and the industry,” Palma said.
Based on the data from Philippine Statistics Authority-Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (PSA-BAS), the corn production area in the region went up to 169,306 hectares last year compared to 159,387 hectares in 2013.
Of the provinces in 2013, Davao del Sur topped production with 85,006 MT followed by Compostela Valley’s 48,709 MT and Davao Oriental’s 45,673 MT.
Davao City and Davao del Norte produced 18,764 MT and 14,566 MT, respectively.
DA XI said that the department has “already obligated more than of P74-million worth of interventions from the P79.787-million budget in 2014. The remaining funds are set to be procured this year once the enabling documents from concerned parties are approved.”
A fund is considered obligated when it is with the spending government units even when documents have yet to be completed.
In a report of PSA-BAS XI as of 2013, the region’s corn production reached 227,013 MT, spiking by 14.29 percent in 2012. “Area harvested expanded to 159,378 hectares by 9.11 percent. Corn yield, at 1.42 MT per hectare, improved by 4.75 percent (in 2013),” the report added.