Fewer corn farms in Guimaras in 2019

The total land in Guimaras where corn was harvested was reduced by 47.34 percent, from 826 hectares in 2018 to 435 hectares in 2019.

This is due 10.26 percent and 73.40 percent reduction in areas planted with white and yellow corn, respectively.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data, areas that yielded white corn contracted by 10.26 percent, from the 341 hectares in 2018 to 306 in 2019.

Areas that produced yellow corn decreased by 73.40 percent – from 485 hectares in 2018 to 129 hectares in 2019.

Lesser corn planting was observed, especially from the first to third quarters of 2019.

With the huge reduction in area planted with the crop, corn yield also decreased by 53.43 percent over its 2018 yield of 2,461 metric tons. Both white and yellow corns indicated a downward trend against the 2018 output.

“White corn slightly decreased by 6.52 percent or equivalent to 703 metric tons in 2019 from a recorded output of 752 metric tons in 2018,” according to Nelida B. Losare, Provincial Statistics Officer, PSA-Guimaras Provincial Statistical Office.

“Similarly, yellow corn output was down by 74.08 percent, from 1,709 MT in 2018 to 443 metric tons in 2019,” Losare added.

Corn produced in the province in 2019 was mostly the white corn type which contributed 61.34 percent to the province’s total corn production or equivalent to 703 metric tons.

Yellow corn, which is used for animal feeds, shared 38.66 percent or 443 metric tons.

Western Visayas produced 313,975 metric tons of corn in 2019, the bulk of which came from Negros Occidental, the top producer of corn in the region contributing 50.05 percent to the region’s output.

The data also showed that the large gap was in the provinces of Iloilo and Capiz that shared 23.42 percent and 21.86 percent, respectively.

“Three provinces recorded lesser share and these are Antique (3.11%), Aklan (1.18%), and Guimaras (0.36%),” Losare said.