The Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries (PCAF) brought together key players in the corn and feed crops industry for a two-day encounter meeting in Isabela. The event, held on August 28-29, 2024 in Ilagan, Isabela, aimed to strengthen collaboration between two of PCAF’s consultative bodies—the National Sectoral Committee on Corn and Feed Crops (NSC on CFC) and the Isabela Provincial Agricultural and Fishery Council (PAFC).

Six members of the NSC on CFC, including its Interim Chairperson Romualdo Elvira, Jr., joined the meeting onsite along with 23 Municipal AFC Chairpersons and Representatives, led by Isabela PAFC Chairperson Alfredo Paguila and Cagayan Regional AFC Chairperson Dante Tobias. Also in attendance were Department of Agriculture-Regional Field Office (DA-RFO) II Executive Director Rose Mary Aquino and National Corn Program (NCP) Senior Technical Advisor Dr. Candido Damo.

PCAF OIC-Executive Director Julieta Opulencia and around 10 NSC and AFC members also participated in the meeting remotely through Zoom.

“Last August 12, Ilagan City celebrated its ninth anniversary of being proclaimed as the Corn Capital of the Philippines. What we noticed is that now the industry is booming, it is now being connected with livestock, especially with small ruminants, as feed crops,” said Dir. Aquino in her welcome remarks.

The meeting discussed the regional and the National Corn Program’s projects for corn, cassava, soybean, and sorghum producers, updates on NSC on CFC policy resolutions, and current industry challenges.

One of the two adopted policy resolutions is the recommendation to increase the 2025 budget allocation for the corn industry, particularly for the DA-RFO II as a major corn-producing region. The increased budget is intended to build feed processing and irrigation facilities near corn farmland. 

With the counsel of the AFCs, the NSC on CFC also adopted a policy resolution recommending the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation to review their existing policies on crop insurance coverage to include compensation for damages caused by natural phenomena, like tornadoes.

On the second day, the participants had a field visit to the champion/model corn clusters and corn-livestock integration projects. These included the Mallig Dairy Cooperative and the Villa Luna Multi-Purpose Cooperative.

In a move to support corn farming advancements and strengthen ties with local farmer leaders, an agricultural technology company also extended an invitation to the AFCs to visit their field innovation and technology centers in Cagayan and Pangasinan.

The company, a member of the National Sectoral Committee on Corn and Feed Crops and a participant in the recent encounter meeting, is committed to hosting these visits to provide the AFCs with firsthand insights into their seed development processes and other cutting-edge crop protection technologies. This initiative aims to equip the AFCs with valuable knowledge that they can share with their constituents, ultimately leading to improved corn farming practices in the region.

Following this event, two more encounter meetings between the NSCs and the AFCs are scheduled this year. The NSC on Rice and other Food Staples is set to visit the Central Luzon AFCs in Nueva Ecija on September 24-27, 2024 and the NSC on Coconut will meet the AFCs in Davao on October 2-4, 2024.

The initiative was driven by the desire of the NSCs to work closely with the AFCs in addressing key issues and developing effective policy resolutions. This also underscores the importance of collaboration between multi-level government offices and industry stakeholders in promoting sustainable agricultural development. | Joy Camille Luza