Monday, April 02, 2007 Corn production 'hinges' on halal industry growth
THE Department of Agriculture has sought for the development of the halal industry to sustain corn production in the country, particularly in Mindanao which contributes more than half of the Philippine corn output.
Agriculture Assistant Secretary Clayton Olalia, national halal focal person, stressed that "a surefire way" to keep up corn production is the establishment of halal feed mills in strategic places in Mindanao.
"One very potential area to relate [our] corn stability program is to bind it with halal livestock and poultry production consistent with the instruction of PGMA [President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo] to make Mindanao as the halal production center of the country," he said.
Olalia said the "stability of corn production in terms of price and benefits for farmers is dependent on the viability and sustainability of the livestock and poultry program of the country."
Olalia said the Agriculture department promotes the establishment of halal feed mills in Mindanao because corn returns to the island as expensive feeds.
"This is largely because feed millers are in Luzon and transport cost is high," he said.
Olalia urged producers to seriously look at the estimated $580 billion annual global halal market, saying that even on a one-percent market share, the Philippines could have $58 billion from halal food or non-food products.
By food safety standards, Halal is considered a quality control system by itself that puts emphasis on critical control points involving hygienic and disease-free preparation of foods from farm to plate.
Halal seal marked on labels of food and non-food products will inform Muslim consumers that the product is free from any Haram or pork, lard from swine and alcohol.
There are at least 1.48 billion Muslim consumers all over the world and major markets for halal certified foods are the United States, the Middle East, Asia such as Singapore and HongKong, and East Association of Southeast Asian Nations Growth Area, particularly Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, of which Mindanao is a part of.
The agriculture department asserted that banking on the halal industry will spin the growth of the corn industry in Mindanao.
Ground reality, however, reflects that the halal industry has yet to stand in a solid ground, with stakeholders still trying to come up with a singular national halal certifying agency.
The country's total corn production last year reached 6.14 million metric tons, of which Mindanao contributed more than half at a volume of 3.7 million metric tons, Agriculture department data showed.
Central Mindanao contributed 1.1 million metric tons; Northern Mindanao, 943,205 metric tons; Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, 728,971 metric tons; Southern Mindanao or Davao Region, 328,204 metric tons; Zamboanga peninsula, 216,101 metric tons; and Caraga region, 83,865 metric tons.
However, a recent survey by the Corn Capital Cooperative portrayed majority of Mindanao farmers still living buried in the quagmire of poverty despite cultivating the crop in the last two decades. (BSS)
