BT corn widespread in N. Iloilo
August 30, 2014
Kape kag isyu (CableTV talk show)
Kape kag isyu (CableTV talk show)
 |
| San Dionisio mayor Peter Paul Lopez (2nd from right) |
His town has been hailed for high yellow corn output but he is unhappy. “I am not an agriculturist, I am asking the Department of Agriculture to help my town to shift to other crops,” he says.
“The corn farmer remains poor and indebted while only the usurers rake profits,” he adds. Some 3 - 4,000 hectares in his town are planted to yellow corn, mostly, Monsanto BT corn, a GMO banned in Europe and Japan for the risks it exposes humans to.
“I am not an agriculturist but in my humble observation, our farmers harvest the average 4 to 5 metric tons per hectare, even less, far lower than what Monsanto promises,” Lopez adds.
Corn farmers spend (mostly on usurious loans) P30,000 average to till a hectare of BT corn which is billed to produce up to 7 metric tons.
“I would recommend it if our land is in Mindanao where farmers yield up to 10 metric tons. San Dionisio’s lowland is devoted to rice but its hills and slopes have been shorn of vegetation which farmers do by spraying them with herbicides. A slope newly sprayed with such chemical reminiscent of napalmed jungles of war-torn Vietnam in the ‘60s.
Lopez further points out that farmers are at the losing end of unfair pricing practices. "While corn crops are still standing, prices rise to P14 or even P17 per kilo (dried corn kernels). However, after harvest, when farmers are selling, traders drop buying prices in just 24 hours to P10 and even P7 (per kilo). We don't wonder anymore who's profiting from the bonanza." he explains.
Lopez further points out that farmers are at the losing end of unfair pricing practices. "While corn crops are still standing, prices rise to P14 or even P17 per kilo (dried corn kernels). However, after harvest, when farmers are selling, traders drop buying prices in just 24 hours to P10 and even P7 (per kilo). We don't wonder anymore who's profiting from the bonanza." he explains.
Agriculture officials warn that wiping out hillside vegetation exposes San Dionisio, 11 kilometers north of Iloilo City, to environmental dangers – erosion, floods and drought, among others. For one, its irrigation system dries up fast and the cost of maintaining its reservoir and ditches increases from worsening siltation. It also reduces farmers income that mono-cropping brings.
This writer narrates to Mayor Lopez that the Iloilo sangguniang panlalawigan in the early 2000’s passed a resolution rejecting BT and hybrid yellow corn while endorsing “open-pollenated” varieties or those which do not degenerate and their seeds can be replanted indefinitely. The resolution though was not followed up by an ordinance unlike the experience of Negros Occidental which enacted an ordinance banning GMOs (not just BT corn) in the province.
Some special “forces” at the agriculture regional office though sneaked through the resolution by directly (that is, without coordinating with the provincial government) dealing with farmers of northern Iloilo.
Lopez may be exaggerating but he says that out of 3,000 farmers in his town into BT corn farming, only six have children who are college graduates.
“From my personal inventory, only 18 to 20 persons who are traders and usurers profit from the corn farming in San Dionisio,” Lopez says.
Notes: Lopez also talked on politics and police matters but it's his view on corn farming that caught my attention.)
Comments
Post a Comment