700-hectare corn plantation to start in Samar

published January 9, 2009 in BusinessWorld and GMANews.tv

TACLOBAN, Philippines — President Gloria M. Arroyo will lead the launching next week of a 700-hectare yellow corn plantation project on Parasan Island in Daram, Samar.

Leo Cañeda, regional executive director of the Department of Agriculture (DA) for Eastern Visayas, said the farm would be the biggest in the region and would contribute at least 5% to the region’s corn output.

Only quality corn seeds will be used in a bid to raise production to five metric tons per hectare from the current two metric tons per hectare.

"We had preliminary consultation and discussions with around 200 farmer beneficiaries. We will deliver the initial 200 bags of seeds next week," Mr. Cañeda said.

"The result of our soil analysis indicates that the area is highly suitable for corn cultivation," he added.

Farmers will pay only P600 for a bag of seeds, which normally costs P2,600.

They will also get free packs of fertilizer.

The 1,500-hectare Parasan Island is one of the agrarian reform communities in Samar province. It is composed of five villages.

Communities on the island have been practicing traditional corn farming for several years, Mr. Cañeda said.

"What the DA is going to do is to push for the use of quality seeds to increase the level of production. The farmers are already organized there. The idea is to involve them in the project in a big way," Mr. Cañeda said.

Eastern Visayas produces an average of 97,000 MT of corn from 40,000 hectares. The largest corn area, about 3,500 hectares, is in San Isidro, Leyte.

Mr. Cañeda said that, late last year, a group of Korean investors visited the island and expressed interest to buy the produce of local corn farmers in Daram town. Korean experts will also augment the technical assistance provided by the government.

As part of the training program, the Agriculture department will establish a techno demo farm on the island.

"They will learn and will be able to undertake actual corn production operation at the demo farm," Mr. Cañeda explained.

Demand for corn is expected to continue growing due to the steady growth of the poultry and livestock sectors, which feed on corn.

Corn growing in Daram, Samar is part of the convergence plan drafted by DA, Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

Under that plan, DA focused on helping raise production, DAR was tasked to identify farmers in agrarian reform communities who would benefit from the project, while DENR checked the project’s compliance with the country’s environmental laws.

Mr. Cañeda said Region 8 is a model region for the convergence implementation in the Visayas area.

The primary goal of the convergence initiative is to identify 194,249 hectares as new areas for expansion from 2005 to 2010. As of last year, there were over 100,000 hectares of underutilized land in the region. — Sarwell Q. Meniano, BusinessWorld