By MELODY M. AGUIBA
Amid an impending import of around 350,000 metric tons (MT) of corn at zero duty, corn farmers said government still owes themsome P1.2 billion in assistance as government failed to take into account farmers’ plight when it allowed dumping of cheap $20 million worth of corn import from the United States PL 480 program in 2001.
Roderico Bioco, chairman of the Philippine Maize Federation Inc. (PMFI), said that the 2001 PL480 corn import has brought serious damage to farmers as corn price plunged unexpectedly due to it. Moreover, the Department of Agriculture (DA) has likewise not yet released a R100 million fund allocated for the sector as approved under the General Appropriations Act (GAA) 2002 budget.
"The government promised to use this R1.1 billion PL 480 corn import for the corn sector. In Mindanao, the first crop is August-September, and the second crop is January February. Normally, the January crop is always higher-priced than the second crop. It was
R7 per kilo for the first crop. (But rather than going up), it fell from close to R7.80 per kilo to R6.30 to R6.40 per kilo. That was the first time in history (and it was because of the PL 480 corn)," he said.
As government approves an importation of around 350,000 MT of corn at zero duty whose delivery may coincide with the March to April harvest, Bioco said it is unfair that government prefers to protect the interest of big companies over that of small farmers.
"WE have to balance interests, but first and foremost, government should protect the interest of small farmers," he said.
The corn farmers have been agreeing to the zero duty corn import for arrival in the last quarter of 2003. However, feed millers and livestock raisers rejected an offer from suppliers for a
R9 per kilo offer delivered at warehouse during a September 10, 2003 bidding as government wanted to collect a more than R0.30 per kilo facilitation and financing charge from these corn users on top of a 20 percent effective duty.
On a second bidding in October last year, the feedmillers again refused to buy corn as bids even rose to some P10 per kilo.
