The Department of Agriculture (DA) said Wednesday there will be no corn supply shortage this year despite the series of typhoons that battered Bicol, Southern Tagalog and Central Luzon recently.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said corn production in other parts of the country was more than enough to make up for the crop losses in the typhoon hit areas.

Corn production this year is expected to increase by 5.47 million metric tons (MT), or 18.4 percent higher than last year's output of 4.63 million MT, Yap said in a report to Malacañang. He added that this year's production could last until next year.

Yap attributed the crop production increase to the success of the DA's GMA-Corn Program, which is designed to encourage farmers to use hybrid seeds.

The area planted to corn also increased by 5.9 percent from 2.41 million hectares in 2003 to 2.55 million hectares this year.

Yap added that this year, 3,733 farmers received a total of P2.09 million in financial assistance under the GMA-Corn program. The DA extends funding assistance to the farmers to encourage them to plant hybrid corn seeds.