Ex-Scout Ranger general launches new revolution

A former Scout Ranger general and leading Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM) member is now in the thick of a revolutionary struggle, this time aimed at reducing poverty and eradicating hunger all over the country through biotechnology.

Retired Army general Marcelo Blando, who once commanded the Scout Ranger regiment that laid siege n Makati’s financial district in the 1989 coup try which almost toppled the regime of President Corazon Aquino, has changed tack, and he is now commanding a regiment of farmers in Northern Luzon with a mission to boost agricultural production and improve their incomes.

Blando, who heads a community-based farmers’ cooperative that successfully harvested and exported Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) com to South Korea, told a recent gathering of farmers from Bondoc Peninsula in Quezon, Laguna, Bulacan and Mindoro in Quezon City, that he has turned the weapons of war into plowshares and is now successfully operating a five-hectare Bt corn farm in Pangasinan.

As a member of the Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) in Pangasinan, Blando oversees the strict implementation of Administrative Order 8 issued by the Department of Agriculture (DA), which strictly regulates the safe productive farming of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Blando said his cooperative has developed a Bt corn farming system and cropping pattern that guarantee bountiful harvests, adding that his Bt corn can be harvested after 85 days. The secret, he explained, lies in planting non-Bt corn Isoline in the first cropping followed by Bt corn on the second and third croppings.

He said South Koreans prefer Bt corn than the standard crop because of its rich texture and absence of Asian corn borer penetration scars. Blando said the Aflatoxin level found in his Bt corn is 10 parts per million, which is well below the tolerable safety limit.

"Bt corn is easy to plant than the conventional corn, Blando continued. "The yield per hectare is eight tons compared to two tons per hectare on ordinary corn."

"Healthy leaves, healthy stalks, healthy crops, and a clean and delicious golden appearance is what makes Bt corn the perfect crop," said the former general.

Blando revealed that agriculturists from the National Crop Protection Center (NCPC) visit his farm regularly to check on his crops. The retired general used to plant palay but shifted to Bt corn because of its economic rewards.

"Bt corn planting would reduce our importation of corn and thus save much-needed dollars for the country," said Blando. "We will need to import more corn, even rice and other agricultural products if farmers do not shift to biotechnology now."

Blando told the farmers in the forum that he has requested the DA to provide extension services to Bt corn growers and monitoring their needs, as well as those farmers producing other crops. With his rich experience in agriculture, Blando plans to educate farmers in remote areas on the benefits and safe use of biotechnology crops.