JORDAN, Guimaras – Notwithstanding the coronavirus pandemic, the province of Guimaras yielded 311 metric tons of corn in the 4th Quarter (Q4) of 2020, up by 29.58 percent from the 240 metric tons (MT) recorded in the same period in 2019.
This data was culled from the Quarterly Corn Production Survey (CPS) of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
“Both corn type, white and yellow, exhibited increment compared to same quarter last year,” said Provincial Statistics Officer Nelida Losare.
The recorded 145 metric tons of white corn produced in Q4 2020 showed expansion of 23.93 percent from the 117 metric tons output in Q4 2019, while the yellow corn also recorded an increment of 34.96 percent, from 123 MT in Q4 2019 to 166 MT in Q4 2020.
The bulk of corn produced in Q4 2020 at 311 metric tons were from the yellow variety which shared more than half or 53.38 percent of the provincial total yield.
The white corn type shared 46.62 percent or 145 metric tons.
Losare said the increment on both the yellow and the white corn yield were due to the higher harvest per hectare and the expansion on area harvested.
The total area harvested for corn was estimated at 104 hectares in Q4 2020 which is lesser by one hectare than in Q4 2019.
“Yellow corn harvested area expanded by 12.50 percent which covered 45 hectares in Q4 2020 from 40 hectares in Q4 2019, while harvested area for white corn declined by 9.23 percent, from 65 hectares to 59 in Q4 2020,” Losare said
Losare also elucidated that the availability of seeds and the increasing utilization of yellow corn for animal feeds triggered corn farmers to expand area planted to yellow corn in Q4 2020./PN
