Pattern of maize consumption and production reveals a widening gap. In the short term, the country is expected to resort to importation mainly due to the highly increasing demand of the livestock sector. The country is intensifying its efforts to produce m9re from decreasing land area and is making modest gains. One effective way was to provide policy and direct incentives for farmers to use hybrids. An estimated 20% of the cropped area is now planted to hybrids. Three multinational and five local seed companies are active now in the Philippines. Most of the hybrids are three-way crosses but almost all are now developing their own single crosses. This was after the Department of Agriculture supported the Institute of Plant Breeding in developing and commercializing the first single cross hybrid (IPB 911) in the country. The development of open-pollinated varieties remains the breeding concern of the public sector. The major good companies have their own strong breeding programs. The emerging problems noticed now in the field are diseases like stalk and ear rots. Related to this is the increasing demand of the grains users for better quality of grain produced in the country in order to compete with those coming from abroad. Another recent field problem is drought .occasioned by the so called El Nino phenomenon. Another emerging issue now is the testing and expected future commercialization of transgenic corn to control corn borer. Some companies have started testing their materials in a special confinement facility of the International Rice Research Institute. The National Biosafety Commission remains to release guidelines for the field commercialization of the said materials. For its part the public sector, in cooperation with CIMMYT, is trying to develop its capability to utilize modern biotechnology tools to complement conventional breeding work.

English

0208|AGRIS 0201|AL-Maize Program|R01PROCE

Juan Carlos Mendieta

CIMMYT Publications Collection