THE National Food Authority (NFA) has bought some 30,000 metric tons (MT) of yellow corn from farmers as of end-August, or about 5 percent of the agency’s procurement target of 600,000 MT until the end of 2009.

The food agency’s procurement target is 20 percent of the expected yield of around 3 million metric tons of yellow corn during the main harvest which started in August.

NFA administrator Jessup Navarro said the Department of Finance has already authorized an additional standby guaranteed credit line of P5.75 billion for the agency’s corn-buying activity.

In a statement, the NFA said it will buy clean and dry yellow-corn grains at P10 per kilogram. This is lower than the P13 per kilogram announced by the Deparment of Agriculture (DA) in May.

“[The] NFA’s reduced buying price for yellow corn has improved the agency’s financial capability to buy more corn from farmers,” said Navarro in a statement.

Earlier, corn farmers from the Philippine Maize Federation opposed this new buying price, saying the government had already agreed to buy corn at P13 per kilogram.

In May, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap announced that the government will buy 300,000 MT of yellow corn at P13 per kilogram during the main harvest.

The NFA, however, said the effective buying price will be at P10.40 per kilogram, as individual farmers will get additional incentives of P0.20 per kilo for drying and P0.20 per kilo for delivery.

For farmer organizations, the NFA grants P0.30 per kilogram cooperative development incentive fee (CDIF) on top of the drying and delivery incentives for a total buying price of P10.70 per kilogram. The CDIF is used for constructing postharvest facilities.

The NFA has also relaxed the purity requirement for yellow-corn grains to 96 percent from the previous 97 percent. The percentage presence of kernels of other colors has also been increased to 5 percent from the previous 4 percent. The standard for foreign matters has been adjusted to 4 percent from the previous 3 percent.

The NFA’s requirement for moisture content, however, remains at 14 percent. Damaged kernels remain at 5 percent, while the shriveled and immature kernels will be at the maximum of 3 percent.

The attached agency of the DA will also buy corn on cobs in Ifugao and Wao in Lanao del Sur where NFA corn centers are located. Navarro said the volume of corn-on-cobs procurement shall be limited to the maximum capacity of the dryers and shellers of the corn centers in these areas.

For other provinces and areas without corn centers, corn procurement will be limited to shelled corn.

The NFA said it will be lending its drying facilities to farmers to help them improve the quality of their produce. Individual farmers selling their produce to NFA will be charged a subsidized drying fee of P12 per bag of 50 kilograms.

Written by Jennifer A. Ng

Source: Business Mirror