Iloilo farmers turn to Bt corn

Corn farmers in Iloilo, particularly in the town of Sara, are now planting genetically-enhanced varieties to maximize their profits, with many of them swearing that they have been netting between P25,000 and P35,000 per hectare per cropping season.

Curiously, these farmers are not planting the crop in flatlands but in hostile territory, in the steep hillsides and slopes earlier believed to be hostile to any food crop.

Moreover, the new corn variety they are using, Roundup Ready, fits upland soil and uses practically no herbicides since the strain has been genetically enhanced by Monsanto Philippines to survive with least soil preparation and without the need to apply herbicides that target the dreaded Asian corn borer (ACB).

Rosallie Ellasus, president of PhilMaize Foundation (PhilMaize), who earlier led the holding of the National Corn Congress in Iloilo City, said Iloilo farmers are convinced about the many benefits of Roundup Ready and Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn, which have been genetically strengthened to battle practically all types of pests.

Bt corn was developed using the bacteria that naturally fights pests and the trait has been carried by seeds that are now being propagated nationwide, even in the 26,000 hectares of land in Sara, Iloilo that are devoted to corn cultivation.

Ellasus said the yield of Roundup Ready and Bt corn ranges from 4.5 tons to 5.5 tons per hectare, and this figure would not have been achieved with the farmers relying only on the traditional varieties.

Monsanto has been very active in promoting the use of genetically enhanced corn varieties in Iloilo and other parts of Panay Island through the "Tipid Saka" program.

The genetically enhanced corn varieties require little tillage and do not even require the use of hand tractors and other equipment normally used in flatlands.

PhilMaize recently sponsored a demonstration of the latest upland farming technology in Iloilo and impressed municipal agriculturists from various parts of the country.

Alexander Bugaon, the municipal agriculturist of Lorto, Agusan del Sur said such farming technology could be applied in their town.

Edgardo Escobanez, municipal agriculturist of Kulasi, Antique and Concepcion Cepe, assistant provincial agriculturist and provincial corn coordinator of Antique said they were impressed by the superiority of such corn variety, which can grow better and produce more yield in such highly elevated areas like in the corn plantations in Sara. Ellasus said genetically engineered, herbicide-tolerant or pest-resistant crops like the controversial Bacillus thuringiensis or Bt corn, gives farmers an edge, as it cuts cost

On the other hand, to minimize loss from massive infestation by dreaded pests in the case of corn, the Asian Corn Borer (ACB), farmers need to apply chemical pesticides.

The Bt corn is genetically engineered to resist the ACB.

Ellasus said even some of the landless farmers in Iloilo, who see better economic opportunities in planting corn, are now "expanding" their plantation, thus triggering a massive conversion of idle land, including what used to be grasslands, into cornfields in upland areas.

A group of individuals in Iloilo that formed the Northern Iloilo Corn Producers Association, Inc. (NICPAI) also saw the opportunity.

They started venturing in micro financing to help farmers by lending them loan. The partnership between NICPAI and the farmers have convinced some landowners in the upland areas with big landholdings to lease out their idle lands to corn farmers from P1,000 per hectare to P2,500 per hectare.