DAGUPAN CITY, Pangasinan - the Philippine Maize (PhilMaize), Inc., in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture's Ginintuang Masaganang Ani-Corn Program, led the 4th Philippine National Corn Congress held at Leisure Coast Resort in this city recently.

Co-sponsored by the National Food Authority, SEARCA Biotechnology Information Center and the Bureau of Post Harvest Research and Extension (BPRE), the corn congress provided venue for the corn industry players in the country to interact and move towards a common agenda for the industry.

With the theme "Masaganang Maisan, Maunlad na Bayan," the congress aims to form a stronger, more cohesive, and focused corn industry in the country today.

Participated in by around 700 individuals that include among others corn growers, producers, researchers, extension workers, traders and processors from all over the country, the congress provided a venue for an effective discussion and transfer of matured technologies which are needed to address pressing issues and problems concerning the industry today.

Graced by Pangasinan Gov. Victor Agbayani and National Corn Directorate Jesus Binamira who represented DA Secretary Domingo Panganiban Jr., common problems besetting the industry today which include among others the financing problems, low productivity, high yield losses, high prices of inputs, pest and diseases of corn like mycotoxins and aflatoxin, were duly addressed through the insights and updates shared by the invited speakers and educators in the congress.

The participants were conveyed in an agri-educational tour in the farm of Ms. Rosallie Ellasus, one of the successful corn farmers in Pangasinan and national president of PhilMaize, which enabled them to see for themselves a demonstration on how NFA facilities and BPRE's mechanized corn planting or the "pneumatic corn planter" operates.

Representatives of the major financing institutions like Quedancor, NFA's Corn Development Fund, DA's National Corn Board, and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) discussed the financing scheme, which the participants could tap to start or to expand a corn-related business.

Production technologies for corn specifically for new seed varieties and Bio-N related concepts were given emphasis in the congress during the technical sessions led by the private companies that are providing corn seeds to the farmers and researchers/professors of the University of the Philippines, Los Baños (UPLB).

As the lead agency for farm mechanization and post-harvest relation problems, BPRE and the Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Products Standards (BAFPS) experts have updated the participants with conversion cost from diesel to biomass-fuel dryer furnaces, mycotoxins strip, medium scale corn technologies, and corn quality management network product standards.