Sweet corn farmers seen to profit from agri upgrade

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City is perceived to have a promising sweet corn industry projected to further grow with agricultural modernization using a variety of hybrid corn products, thus helping to increase the income of farmers in the mountain barangays.

Cebu City agriculturist Joselito Baclayon said that although the sweet corn industry may seem like a small business for some, such sector actually poses a huge opportunity for growth in Cebu.

Baclayon said Cebu City produces 25 percent of the gross agricultural requirements in Cebu’s main markets, about five percent of which is composed of the sweet corn produce.

These also include the harvest in vegetables, flowers and fruits from the central mountain barangays in Cebu City such as Tabao, Adlaon, Sirao, Sibugay, and Taptap.

He added that in Barangay Adlaon alone, there are a total of 500 farmers, 300 of them produce sweet corn. Adlaon, he said, has a 1,000-hectare farm that is intended for sweet corn. The harvest cycle for sweet corn spans 65 days.

Baclayon said that with the sweet corn production as the primary livelihood in the mountain barangay, the farming industry in Adlaon does not only produce food but also employ people from the rural areas for harvesting, care management and transport of goods to the market. They also produce cauliflower, pechay and alugbati.

It was last month that the Cebu City government through the City Agriculture collaborated with East West Seed Company, Inc. for the Corn Expo and Pinakbet Cooking Challenge which were held in Sitio Bayabas, Adlaon, Cebu City.

This was also in collaboration with the local government units in the city and other municipalities in Cebu and the region.

Established in the Philippines in 1982, East West Seed Co. distributes seeds in 53 countries worldwide to help farmers earn better yields.

East West Seed Co. regional sales manager Ronald Tolentino said that the corn expo was aimed at introducing the different corn commodities of the company to farmers for them to have a better option to produce a higher income.

With sweet corn as the dominant crop in Adlaon, he said that they intended to showcase the variety of hybrid, glutinous corn crops aside from the big-and-heavy macho corn which is the most common type of the said crop.

The glutinous type of corn is higher than the natural type of sweet corn. It is usually produced in uniform sizes and can be sold in competitive prices. It is as sweet as the macho corn but is lighter in color and sticky in texture.

East West Seed Co. produces a variety of sweet corn seedlings such as the Sweet Grande which has big ears with good tip filling and is sweet and tender, the Macho corn which weighs 220 to 270 grams and possesses excellent plant vigor with big cylinder ears and the Super Sweet East West Select that has light yellow kernel color.

It also has the glutinous corn seedlings named as Klasika which is said to have the best eating quality and high yield produce with its uniform good quality ears and the Sweet Pearl which is described to be the super sweet white glutinous corn enhanced with sweetness gene.

Considering Adlaon as the market leader for sweet corn, the company allotted a one-fourth hectare property as a demonstration of planting and growing the glutinous corn seedlings.

Tolentino said that one kilo of glutinous corn seeds is priced from P700 to P800 and is already good for 1,500 square meters of property. A hectare of corn farm needs seven kilos of corn seedlings in total.

Meanwhile, he noted that the regional pinakbet challenge which was participated by the different provinces across Central Visayas was aimed to promote eating vegetables among the younger generation.

He said that increasing the awareness level of the public on the nutritional benefits of eating vegetables could help create a higher income for vegetable farmers. /JMD (FREEMAN)