National corn congress set May 4-5

The 4th Philippine National Corn Congress will be held at the Leisure Coast Resort in Dagupan City, Pangasinan, on May 4-5.

Agriculture Secretary Domingo F. Panganiban has been invited to keynote the congress, which has for its theme "Masaganang Maisan, Maunlad na Bayan."

The activity aims to enrich the participants’ knowledge in production, postharvest financing, and enterprise; broaden their insights into policies affecting the corn industry; and advocate reforms and measures toward a more competitive corn industry.

The congress is sponsored by PhilMaize and the Guinintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA) Corn Program of the government.

The technical sessions will cover financing, production technologies, farm mechanization, postharvest, mycotoxin testing, the Asian corn borer (one of the most destructive pest attacking corn), Bt corn farming practices (results of a national survey), updates on post commercial monitoring of biotechnology corn, and Roundup Ready corn.

The plenary session will tackle the corn industry outlook (government programs, trends in production, market and demand, e-trading, and others).

A sightseeing tour of Pangasinan’s historic and scenic spots has also been scheduled for those who are interested. – RAF