Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala has called on farmers in Central Visayas to raise their output of white and yellow corn to three metric tons per hectare.

Alcala issued the call when he addressed about 650 participants at a forum organized by the Cebu Coalition for Food Security (CCFS) at the College of Technological Sciences in Cebu City last August 20.

“Let’s forge stronger partnerships to make Central Visayas self-sufficient in food, particularly in white corn,” he stressed.

“If we could increase the harvest of white corn, the region’s major staple, to an average of three tons per hectare, then you would be more than sufficient,” Alcala told the farmers, local government officials, NGO leaders, organic farming advocates, members of the clergy and agri-fishery industry stakeholders in the region. “When achieved, we could ease the pressure on rice supply, and lessen our imports,” he added.

Alcala said the Department of Agriculture (DA) is ready to pitch in to help farmers raise their current yield of a low 806 kilos per hectare.

A total of 164,770 hectares are planted to corn in Central Visayas, which is comprised of the provinces of Bohol, Cebu , Negros Oriental and Siquijor. Of the total, 95 percent or 157,110 hectares are devoted to white corn for food and 7,660 hectares are planted to yellow corn for feed. Some of the areas are irrigated and have two annual croppings.

Last year, the region’s total corn area harvested reached 231,473 hectares, with the output placed at 186,479 tons of both white and yellow corn.

Majority of the 6.61 million people in the region are corn eaters, with the total demand for 2009 at 296,128 tons. The per capita consumption is 44.8 kilos of white corn.

With a 3-ton average yield from a little over 230,000 hectares, Central Visayas could produce at least 690,000 tons yearly, which is more than twice the current corn consumption.

At that production level, the region could ship its surplus to other parts of the Visayas and Mindanao.

Alcala explained that the three-ton average output could be achieved by providing farmers the right farm inputs, high-yielding and pest-resistant white corn varieties, and the adoption of modern technologies, combined with organic farming.

He also encouraged vegetable farmers to diversify into planting semi-temperate crops like lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, carrots and sweet pea (chicharo) — collectively known as “chopsuey” vegetables — in cool, hilly areas in Cebu and other parts in the region.

Traditionally, Cebu farmers raise eggplants, tomatoes, bitter gourd or ampalaya, string beans and squash, which are collectively known as the “pinakbet” vegetables. He said diversifying into semi-temperate vegetables could be done, as shown by farmers in Quezon province.

Alcala also suggested the adoption of a progressive planting schedule so as to avoid oversupply during harvest and thus enable them to get better prices for their vegetables, by planting vegetables on a weekly basis on specific portions of the farm area to enable the farmers to harvest every other week.

Alcala told the farmers that the