THE Department of Agriculture (DA)-Central Visayas plans to introduce varietal shifting of corn seedlings to farmers to increase corn production in the region.

Junn Ponce, the regional corn coordinator, told SunStar Cebu on Thursday, July 7, 2022, that they plan to provide farmers with a variety of corn seedlings that can generate a much higher yield percentage, such as the genetically modified or GMO corn seedlings.

"We plan to introduce varietal shifting from native to hybrid corn seedlings because we are one of those corn-eating provinces. We also have a huge area, especially for white corn, but we have low production," said Ponce.

As DA stated, the region only has about 0.6 percent production for white corns and about 2.9 percent for yellow corns as of 2021.

This is quite less than the corn production in the National Capital Region, which yielded about 2.9 percent for the white corns and about seven percent for the yellow corns. (HIC)