North Cotabato Farmers Go for New Corn Hybrid
One of those farmers is Jaime Sillador of Brgy. Kibudtungan, Carmen, 39, who has already planted Bioseed 9909 for the third season after trying it in 2 hectares (ha) in the first season. “It was just to find out whether it is really good, but I got hooked to it,” Jaime said when we attended a harvest festival in his farm last season.
He was greatly surprised with his yield even as Bioseed 9909 is the first Bioseed variety introduced in his barangay. He harvested 140 bags of corn in cobs per hectare. When it was finally shelled and dried, he got 6,048 kilograms (kg) per hectare (ha) or a total of 12,096 kg of shelled corn. At P10.20 a kilo, his gross income was P123,379.
After removing his production cost of about P30,000 per hectare or P60,000 for 2 ha, his net income was P63,000. It was an income that he hardly got from other varieties.
“It is a lot better than other varieties I have used. Not even stacked corn would compare well with Bioseed 9909,” Jaime said.
He stressed that the kernels (grains) of this variety are heavy, such that one sack is 10 kg heavier than the other varieties. One thing that contributes to the heavy weight of the kernels is their large size. In addition, one plant normally produces two to three large cars. Moreover, this variety is resistant to stalk and ear rot, as well as to drought and strong winds. Furthermore, based on size and color, the kernels are easily classified as first class and, hence, traders add an incentive of P0.05-P0.10 a kilo over the current price.
Jaime’s dry season crop gave him an average 200 sacks in cobs per hectare, which was a lot higher than his first crop, according to Bioseed marketing supervisor Jojo dcla Rosa. Translated into shelled and dried kernels or grains, he obtained 51,840 kg from 6 ha at a shelling recovery of 45 percent. Because the grains were classified as first class, his gross income was a staggering P544,320. After deducting his production cost of P180,000 for 6 ha, his net income was a handsome P364,320.
Incidentally, Jaime was scholar from 1992-1994 in Hawaii under the Philippine Agricultural Training Program. Although he trained on vegetable production, he was attracted to the mango spraying business upon his return to the Philippines. His income from this business enabled him to build a house and buy an assembled jeep.
It was only in 2005 that he started to plant corn. His first variety was stacked corn. “But I incurred a lot of deficit, as my debts ran to more than P200,000,” he said. His crop was affected by a long drought at 70 days after transplanting and hence, his yield was not even enough to pay for his production cost.
Since Jaime is also a corn financier, he now pushes the use of Bioseed 9909 among fanners whom he is financing. These farmers also sell their harvest to him and, thus, he had to acquire a corn sheller to facilitate faster shelling. With a shelling recovery of 45 percent, the machine can shell 100 bags of corn in cobs in 40 minutes. The sheller including its surplus engine cost him a little over P70,000.
FORMER MNLF FIGHTER
Another farmer in Carmen, North Cotabato who is hooked to Bioseed 9909 is Casan Akmad, 40, a Muslim who was an MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front) fighter. He finished only Grade 2 as his family was constantly evacuating from one location to another.
Casan owns 37 ha planted to corn, but he cultivates only 13 ha. The rest are cultivated by other Muslim farmers who obtain finances from him, amounting to r27,000/ha. In addition, 12 ha of corn lands have been mortgaged to him, but the owners cultivate these farms themselves. In effect, 49 ha of corn lands are under his supervision. Besides corn, he also has 20 ha of rice lands, 6 ha of which are his own.
In the first season, he bought 180 bags of Bioseed 9909 seeds, enough to plant 180 ha as he was providing finances including seeds to corn farmers. This increased to 278 bags for the last dry season crop, as more farmers requested Casan for financing after seeing the performance of the variety.
His first crop of 7 ha yielded more than 160 bags of corn ears in cobs a hectare. He got a total 28,947 kg of dry shelled grains, which he sold for P312,627.60.
We visited Casan’s dry season corn crop last May, and he was beaming with pride on the prospects of high yield. The ears were already at the soft dough stage. “It looks like the yield will be better than the previous season because the crop stand is much better,” he said. He expected to harvest at least 200 bags in cobs per hectare and true enough, he got more than his expectation.
“No other variety could compare well with Bioseed 9909 when it comes to grain weight,” Casan said. It has a high shelling recovery, and Casan has been getting a shelling recovery of 57 percent to 60 percent. “With Bioseed 9909, 1 could no longer ask for more,” he added.
Casan said farmers whom he is financing are happy that he has practically forced them to plant Bioseed 9909. With this variety, they are getting a net income of P20,000-P30,000/ha. In contrast, other farmers who get other seeds from the government obtain a net income of P10,000/ha, according to Casan.
He is confident that with his income now, he will be able to send his children to school. Right now, he has three children studying at the University of Southern Mindanao in Kabacan, North Cotabato.
OTHER CARMEN FARMERS
Another Muslim farmer who is highly impressed with Bioseed 9909 is Akmad Abdullah, 40, also from Carmen. Although he cultivates only 3 ha for corn, he is financing 30 ha which are all planted to this variety.
His crop last May was already his third Bioseed 9909 crop. In the first season, he tried this variety in only 1 ha and harvested 172 sacks in cobs. After shelling and drying, he had 85 sacks of corn grains which weighed 7,735 kg. At P9.50 a kilo, his gross income of P73,482 surprised him a lot. “I never earned this much before from 1 ha,” he said. His production cost was P25,000, and he earned P48,482.
Earlier, he planted stacked corn, which gave him 107 sacks in cobs or 49 bags of dry shelled corn weighing 4,459 kg.
Encouraged by the high yield of Biosced 9909, Akmad increased the area planted to this variety to 2 ha in the next season. However, the season was characterized by continuous downpour, resulting in the death of many plants. His harvest was hardly enough to pay for the cost of production, but this did not discourage him.
Akmad said his crop failed due to uncontrollable forces of nature. Thus, he has continued to plant Biosecd 9909 and convinced farmers whom he is financing to plant it, too.
A young farmer from Brgy. Kibudtungan, Toto Tumbag, 28, proudly said that were it not for Bioseed 9909, he would not have been able to marry his wife last January. His income from I ha was enough for their wedding expenses. Thus, he swears to continue planting this variety until something better is developed.
In Pigcawayan, North Cotabato, husband and wife Manny and Jocelyn Manuel are thankful for planting Bioseed 9909. Although they cultivate only 1 ha as tenants of the North Cotabato Free Farmers Cooperative, Inc., they were able to change the roof of their house with galvanized iron sheets.
Their Bioseed 9909 crop that we saw was already their third season. In the first season, they obtained 134 sacks in cobs, which resulted in more than 6,400 kg of dry shelled grains. Their net income was P17,000.
In the next season, however, they harvested only 126 sacks in cobs or 5,840 kg of dry shelled grains due to low plant population, which was caused by continuous rainfall. Continuous rainfall resulted in waterlogging, but the variety was not affected so much because it is resistant to stalk rot. Despite the decrease in yield, they still earned P14,000. The couple, however, was not discouraged. “This crop is a lot better than the previous crop,” said Jocelyn.
In the past, they were planting a low-yielding variety. Hence, they were unable to pay their production loan from the co-op. Their unpaid production loans for three crops of that variety totalled P30,000 and until now they are still paying for it at 112,000-P3,000 per cropping season.
Four seasons after that, they also planted stacked corn, which yielded an average 5,280 kg of dry shelled grains. For a while, they were happy with this variety until Bioseed 9909 was introduced to them.
