In line with efforts to enhance the competitiveness of locally grown agricultural products, particularly corn, the Office of the Million Jobs Program headed by Presidential Adviser for Jobs Creation Luis P. Lorenzo Jr. recently brought together industry stakeholders for a series of caucuses to define the problems affecting the corn sector.

The multi-sector meet aimed to address the various problems - from production to processing, logistics to marketing and distribution - that hinder the growth and affect the competitiveness of the corn sector, particularly in Mindanao.  It also sought to identify the interventions needed by the sector.

The meetings were in response to President Macapagal-Arroyo's challenge to the private sector to help make locally produced corn more competitive in the global arena. Producers, processors, traders and cargo handlers in General Santos and Cagayan de Oro, shipping companies and government financial institutions participated in the meetings.  A workshop on corn productivity was also held to consolidate the ideas and suggestions of the stakeholders in the corn supply chain.

The shipping industry, which for a long time bore the brunt of accusation that the high cost of prime commodities was a result of high shipping cost, actively took part in the corn workshop - highlighting the sector's commitment to help find ways to reduce the cost of transporting locally produced agriculture products.

The corn productivity workshop, which involved players in the supply chain, is an offshoot of the holistic approach that the Philippine Interisland Shipping Association (PISA) is advocating through its president, Doris Magsaysay Ho, to address the problem of competitiveness of Philippine products.