Corn tillers told to delay planting

BAGUIO CITY—Corn farmers in the Cordillera region were advised to delay planting until this month because the dry spell during summer damaged more than 6,000 hectares of corn farms in the provinces of Apayao, Ifugao, Kalinga and Mountain Province.

Pancy Piluden, regional corn coordinator of the Department of Agriculture (DA), said Aguinaldo town in Ifugao was the latest municipality to report damage from the dry spell. She said 382 ha of cornfields in the town were damaged and farmers had incurred losses amounting to P25.9 million.

In its April 28 report, the DA recorded heavy damage to 6,003 ha of cornfields in the Cordillera that cost farmers P68.3 million in lost income.

“The dry spell came at a time when corn plants were in their pollination and fertilization stage [which required abundant water] … And because there was no rain, the plants just dried up,” Piluden said.

The farmers planted corn from November 2013 to January this year.

Piluden said none of the farmers requested for cloud-seeding because they were expecting the rain to fall in March. Desiree Caluza, Inquirer Northern Luzon