MORE NEWS, ILOCOS SUR

P13 per kilo: NFA, Ilocos Sur gov’t set yellow corn price
By Freddie Lazaro

VIGAN CITY — The provincial government of Ilocos Sur and the National Food Authority forged a memorandum of agreement pegging the buying price of hybrid yellow corn at P13 per kilo.

The buying season started last Tuesday April 1 in the NFA warehouses in Candon City and Bantay, Ilocos Sur.

The signing of the MOA was initiated by Ilocos Sur Gov. Deogracias Victor "DV" B. Savellano under the NFA’s Corn Marketing Assistance Program for Producers-Users of Local Government Units.

The R13 buying price for yellow corn was pegged when the provincial government headed by Governor Savellano added a price premium of R6 to the current R7 government support price for one kilo of yellow corn.

The provincial government allotted a total R3-million counterpart fund for this program.

The marketing program has targeted to purchase 500,000 kilos of yellow corn produced in the province.

The R13 buying price is R2 higher than the current price of R11 per kilo set by private traders.

"I came up with this initiative to sustain the high price of the yellow corn produced in the province because I cannot allow our farmers to lose income from corn growing," Savellano said.

"With the marketing assistance program, our farmers would probably be able to offset the high prices of farm inputs and our farmer can earn higher income," he said.

Savellano said that his initiative was part of his "KABSAT Program," an outreach undertaking that aims to generate high-impact agriculture activities.

Engineer Fortunato Bulao, NFA povincial mnager, said that the marketing strategy jointly crafted by his office and the provincial government is being implemented for the first in the province.

He said that a similar marketing program had been initiated by Isabela Governor Grace Padaca.

It is called the Palay Marketing Assistance of Local Government Units but this covers rice.

"This initiative of Governor Savellano would really help the farmer to earn higher income in corn growing," Bulao said.

He said that the warehouses of the NFA are utilized as stations for the buying of yellow corn produced by the farmers.

"To qualify the farmers to deliver and sell their corn produce under this program, the farmers should get a certification or endorsement signed by an agriculture technician and barangay captain. The certification indicates the total land area planted to yellow corn and the volume of the corn produced. This document will be submitted to us by the farmers to show that the people who sell their corn to us are really farmers," Bulao said.

"The yellow corn should also have at least 14 percent moisture content with 97 percent purity upon delivery to our warehouses," Bulao said.

Records of the Department of Agriculture showed that Ilocos Sur is one of the biggest hybrid corn-producing provinces in Northern Luzon.

Some 15,000 farmers in the province are engaged in corn growing in at least 14,000 hectares of farms, a report by the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist headed by Teofilo Quintal.