North Cotabato Farmers Go for New Corn Hybrid(Part 2)
They are Bernadette “Badette” Ayco, a widow in Brgy. Bao, and Eduardo “Eddie” Octaviano in Brgy. Camansi. Badette started using Bioseed corn seeds in 2004, while Eddie is only in his third crop of Bioseed 9909.
Badette and her late husband started to plant corn in 2 hectares (ha) in 1985. With a capital of P10,000, they were planting seeds of another hybrid seed producer which yielded an average of 120 bags of ears in cobs.. From their harvest they got 40-45 bags of dry shelled corn weighing 95-97 kilograms (kg) each.
From 1985 to 1990, they were bringing their corn grains to traders in Midsayap using hired cargo trucks. The trucking cost then was only P0.20 a kilo, while the price of corn was only P4 plus per kilo. Today, trucking cost has increased tremendously to P0.60 a kilo.
