Kalinga is 2nd top yellow corn producer in CAR

THE province of Kalinga emerged as the second-highest producer of yellow corn in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) in 2021 next to Ifugao province, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said.

Ronan Soriano, an agriculturist from the DA-CAR Corn Program, said that the province's total production of 66,720 metric tons (MT) contributed 31 percent of the region's total estimated corn production of 214,867 MT from January to December 2021.

Kalinga province also achieved a 376-percent sufficiency level on yellow corn in 2021, Soriano added.

Kalinga has a physical corn production area of 12,343 hectares that are fully utilized during the rainy season based on the submitted planting reports by the partner local government units to the DA-CAR. Major yellow corn producing localities are Tabuk City, Pinukpuk, Tanudan and Rizal. Hence, most of the corn interventions go to these municipalities. They also produce white corn but primarily for home and/or local consumption.

With the growing demand for yellow corn being the main ingredient for livestock and poultry feed, the corn production areas in CAR continue to expand even in the steep rolling areas. High yield in these areas, however, is not guaranteed because of unfavorable slope. One main problem identified particularly during the rainy days is surface runoff that washes away nutrients needed by the plants.

To combat the problem, methods such as sustainable corn production in sloping areas (SCoPSA) and intercropping are being promoted by the Agriculture department to help corn farmers in the region.

"We highly promote intercropping of other crops like pineapple and fruit trees and establishment of hedgerows in the sloping corn areas to avoid soil erosion," Soriano said.

Technology demonstrations on SCoPSA have been established in the major-producing provinces in the region since 2019. For Kalinga, there are two established areas located in the municipality of Tanudan.

Meanwhile, farmer's cooperatives in the localities are also encouraged to further strengthen and capacitate their groups, specifically in consolidating the produce of their farmer members. Through consolidation, the farmer's cooperatives may be able to market their produce directly to the feed millers.

Source: TheManila Times