Corn association seeks support to expand planting area to address food, fuel issues

The Philippine Maize Federation, Inc. (PhilMaize) said Tuesday that his industry is seeking to expand corn planting and infrastructure support to address any worries that food security is being sacrificed to divert their harvests for biofuel use.

PhilMaize President Romualdo I. Elvira Jr. said via Viber: “The concerns of the National Biofuels Board (NBB) are food and feeds security and sustainability. We need to justify the use of corn and sustain its availability.”

Mr. Elvira said the NBB’s concerns can be addressed by expanding the area planted to corn, as well as by improving infrastructure.

He said the inclusion of corn as a bioethanol feedstock was originally proposed by the organization during the 18th Philippine National Corn Congress last year.

It was made into a resolution by the National Sectoral Committee on Corn and Feed Crops, and was unanimously approved by the congresses in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) has said that it will be reviewing the Philippines’ biofuel policies to add corn to the list of approved feedstocks for bioethanol production. The current approved feedstocks are sugarcane and molasses.

The DA cited the need to address the energy crisis triggered by the fighting in the Middle East. — Marron Joshua F. Mendoza