The Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries (PCAF) conducted a collaborative dialogue in Zamboanga Peninsula with the National Sectoral Committee on Corn and Feed Crops (NSC-CFC) and the Regional Agricultural and Fishery Council (RAFC) of Zamboanga Peninsula on September 3 to 5, 2025, in Dipolog City.
The activity was a strategic move to address the urgent need for a more resilient and efficient corn and feed crop industry, a key part of the country’s livestock and poultry sectors.
Previous NSC-CFC meetings have highlighted the persistent challenges facing the corn sector, including low farm productivity, rising input costs, and climate-related impacts.
For the second collaborative dialogue of the committee, Zamboanga Peninsula was chosen as the focus area due to its vital role in national corn and cassava production, as well as its potential for expanding other feed crops such as sorghum and soybean.
The collaborative meeting marked a vital step toward fostering multisectoral solutions by uniting diverse stakeholders, including government agencies, farmer organizations, and the private sector—to ensure that national strategies are grounded in local realities.
The plenary workshops generated targeted and practical solutions for the corn and feed crops value chain.
These workshops focused on key areas to ensure a thorough examination of challenges, current interventions, and actionable recommendations focused on improving production, marketing, postharvest facilities, clustering, and strengthening ties with institutional buyers.
Following the workshops, several key agreements and next steps were outlined. PCAF’s Policy Development and Coordination Division will process the outputs and present them at the third quarter meeting of the NSC-CFC.
After validation by the meeting participants, the outputs will be consolidated into formal policy resolutions and endorsed to concerned agencies for appropriate action.
Furthermore, the implementation of these resolutions will be monitored, and progress reports will be regularly provided to the NSC-CFC and RAFC ZamPen. | Jezebel Campaniel
