Covering 1st quarter of ’17
TACLOBAN CITY – The province of Leyte has increased its corn production, balking the regional trend which saw the production of corn declining last year, report of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported.
Wilma Perante, PSA-8 regional director, told Leyte Samar Daily Express that among the six provinces of the region, Leyte produced the highest volume of corn at 7,101 metric ton comprising about two-thirds or 67.4 percent of the total regional corn production.
Biliran, meanwhile, had the lowest volume of production or 118 metric ton accounting for only 1.1 percent.
Based on the PSA record, the regional corn production covering the first quarter of last year decreased by 9.6 percent from previous year of the same period of 11,649 MT.
Perante said that the total harvest area for corn in the region likewise decreased by 7.1 percent, from 8,081 hectares in the first quarter of 2017 to 7,507 hectares in the first quarter of 2018.
Contributing largely to this decrease is Northern Samar with a drop of 30.1 percent, she added.
Perante said that Leyte recorded almost three quarters or 74.3 percent (5,574 hectares) of the total corn area harvested during the quarter in review, while Eastern Samar contributed the least (70 hectares) accounting for only 0.9 percent.
Decreases were observed among all provinces, except in Southern Leyte and Eastern Samar, which posted increases of 7.0 percent and 3.8 percent, respectively, the director said.
Perante said that the yield per hectare for corn in the region remained at 1.4 metric tons per hectare.
She added that among the provinces, Eastern Samar posted the highest yield per hectare during the quarter in review at 2.0 MT per hectare. Biliran registered the lowest yield per hectare at 1.2 MT per hectare. (RESTITUTO A. CAYUBIT)
