A House leader on Thursday underscored the need to establish a corn research institute that will focus on increasing the productivity and quality of the Philippines’ most important food next to rice.
Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte, in filing House Bill) 7818, said the proposed Philippine Corn Research Institute or PhilCorn would be modernizing the corn industry and improving the livelihood and household income of small corn growers.
The bill also seeks to empower corn farmers with tools of science and technology to help them cope with the perennial problems of low yields, droughts and floods, land degradation and global warming plus other risks arising from environmental and climate changes.
“Around 600,000 households depend on it as a primary source of income. We should be able to increase the productivity and quality of our corn produce by establishing the Philippine Corn Research Institute,” Villafuerte said.
PhilCorn would be attached to the Department of Agriculture, the bill says.
“HB 7818 seeks to increase the productivity and quality of our corn through modern farm planting practices, harvesting, processing and packaging techniques for the domestic and global markets,” Villafuerte said.
Citing data from the Agriculture department, Villafuerte said Camarines Sur recorded a 28-percent increase in corn production, or from 75,505 metric tons in the first semester of 2019 to this year’s 96,717 MT from total harvest area of 23,845 hectares despite the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A former Camarines Sur governor, Villafuerte said his bill would further increase corn harvests as PhilCorn would also equip farmers with the means “to combat climate change by enhancing their capability to continuously develop cutting-edge technology and agricultural innovations.”
Villafuerte has proposed an initial funding of P400 million for PhilCorn. and that its principal office be based at the Isabela State University or at any other suitable site as the institute’s Board of Trustees might decide.
Philcorn’s board of trustees would be mandated under the bill to exercise all the corporate functions and powers of the institute.
The Philippines produced around 7,772,000 MT of corn in 2018, according to Villafuerte.
Corn serves as the staple food of 20 percent of the population and a component of up to 75 percent of the formulated feeds for livestock, poultry and aquaculture.
In May, Villafuerte pushed for a “re-prioritization” of the proposed 2021 General Appropriations Act, with a hefty part of the annual budget going not only to infrastructure development and social services but also to agricultural development, “with the long-term goal of attaining sufficiency in rice and other basic foodstuff in the post-pandemic scenario.”
