BACOLOD CITY – Corn and palay production in Negros Occidental increased in 2017.
Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data showed for corn, production grew by 12.73 percent in 2017 to 146,742 metric tons compared to the 130,167 metric tons produced in 2016.
Area planted also increased from 64,899 hectares to 68,920 hectares in 2017 both for yellow and white varieties.
PSA-Negros Occidental officer-in-charge Joely Cabarles said higher price of corn as a result of increased market demand has encouraged farmers to plant more corn.
Cabarles said most of total corn yield of Negros Occidental goes to commercial feeds production which also complements the flourishing livestock and poultry industry of the province.
Meanwhile, Cabarles said the introduction of farm technologies to rice farmers in Negros Occidental has resulted in the increasing trend in the province’s annual palay production.
It’s not because of crop conversion, but more on the introduction of farm technologies, he added.
PSA-Negros Occidental cited the increase of 4.9 percent in the province’s palay production in 2017.
Last year’s yield totaled 474,874 metric tons, with or an actual increase of 22,000 metric tons, compared to the 452,582 metric tons in 2016.
Cabarles said the upward movement in the annual palay production can be attributed to the impact of technologies introduced by the Provincial Government through the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist.
He added that aside from modern equipment, technologies introduced to rice farmers include practices like level of fertilizer application and weeds control.
Cabarles noted that although not all farmers in Negros Occidental have started adapting modern technologies, the province’s palay production would still increase gradually.
“With hybridization plus farm mechanization, we can expect that in the next three to five years the improvement in palay production in the province would be very evident,” Cabarles said. (Erwin Nicavera/PNA)
