The province of Guimaras produced 1,981.82 metric tons (MT) of corn in 2022, a 8.63 percent slump from the 2,169-MT yield in 2021.
The production drop is due to lower white and yellow corn yields, based on data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
“White corn shared 45.86 percent, on average, of the total corn yield in three years. It consistently dropped from 1,031MT in 2020 to 1,003MT in 2021, down by -2.72%; and 843.36MT in 2022, which is –15.92 percent compared to 2021 level,” Provincial Statistical Officer Nelida B. Losare said.
“Yellow corn produce comprised 54.14 percent on average of the total corn yield. It also recorded an erratic trend – from 1,083MT in 2020, inched up to 1,166MT in 2021 by 7.66 percent, and slightly moved down to 1,138.46MT in 2022, posting a decrease of –2.36 percent,” Losare added.
Corn yield was unpredictable for three consecutive years, with a 2.60 percent increase in 2021 over 2020, then dropped to –8.63% in 2022. (See Figure 1)
The decrease in corn yield was due to the –4.49 percent reduction in harvested area, equivalent to 29.34 hectares in 2022. It was further pushed down by a –9.64% reduction in area planted with white corn, or 35.87 hectares contraction.
In three comparative years (2020-2023), the highest corn yield was in 2021 with 2,169MT, driven by the 7.66% growth in yellow corn yield, while the least was in 2022 at 1,981.82MT.
In terms of area harvested, the total area for white corn was 364.38 on average for three years, comprising more than half (56.73%) of the total area harvested, while yellow corn accounted for 43.27% on average.
From 2020 to 2021, a meager increment of 0.62 percent or an additional 4 hectares was in 2021 due to the -3.38% shrinkage in the area planted to white corn equivalent to 13 hectares.
Furthermore, the white corn got a large chunk than the yellow corn, but on decreasing trend for three years, opposite to the yellow corn trend, which consistently expanded yearly.
“The utilization of yellow corn for animal feeds triggered corn farmers to expand the area planted to yellow corn,” Losare said.
