Filipino farmer-leader supports?wider biotech corn propagation

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines continues to be a leading player in the full commercialization of biotech food crops, beating such giants as China and India, both of which are currently promoting the cultivation of Bacillius thuringiensis (Bt) cotton.

During the recent  “International Conference on Adoption of Biotech Crops in the Developing World: Case Studies of Farmers from China, India, and the Philippines” held at the Hyatt Hotel in Manila, farmer-leader Delson Sonza of Sara, Iloilo stressed that more and more Ilonggo farmers are opting for Bt corn due to its enormous economic benefits and less environmentally destructive “no tillage system” introduced as far back as 1998.

The conference was organized by the John Templeton Foundation, Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), National Academy for Science and Technology (NAST), the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), and the Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project II (ABSPII).

SEARCA director Gil C. Saguiguit Jr. said the conference is crucial in learning how the world has taken biotech crops seriously and why certain countries are advancing and defending their food sovereignty and security while others lag behind.

“As a regional center for agriculture, SEARCA looks at biotechnology as an important tool to increase food production in the light of the present concerns of the region on food security and a growing population. However, there are some who are skeptical in adopting this technology because of anecdotal accounts of its detrimental effects to human and environmental health. But as rational individuals, we must instead count on scientific and empirical pieces of evidence as bases of our decision to adopt biotechnology,” SEARCA deputy director Virginia R. Cardenas told participants from China, India, Latin America, North America, Africa and Europe.

In his presentation, Sonza showed that the farmers in Iloilo adopted Bt corn primarily because of the economic benefits.

The net income at P31,590 per hectare for Bt corn from an output of 5,000 kilos was much better than the income from non-Bt corn varieties that require fertilizers costing P13,820 and total production cost at P33,050 per hectare. 

Sonza said the Ilonggo farmers were so convinced that the area planted to Bt corn rose by 1,800 hectares to 9,300 hectares in two years and peaked at 25,000 hectares in 2007.

Moreover, Sonza reported that on the average, a Bt corn farmer earns P30,000 per hectare. He said there are more savings as the crop does not require plowing and weeding. 

“Due to rising incomes, children can now attend school and even enroll in college. There is money to buy home appliances and even postharvest facilities,” Sonza pointed out. 

He noted, however, that typhoon Frank which hit Iloilo in June 2008 ruined corn stands, forcing many of the farmers to temporarily stop planting corn as their savings were not enough to buy additional inputs needed to rehabilitate the flooded farms. 

Sonza said that since there was no government subsidy, the corn farmers had to fend for themselves. The calamity made it evident that financial resources are still needed to sustain Bt corn production.