THE Department of Agriculture (DA) in Central Mindanao is targeting at
least 5,000 hectares where the controversial Bacillus thuringiensis corn (Bt
corn) will be planted under a subsidy program.
Zaldy Boloron, DA-Central Mindanao Ginintuang Masaganang Ani program
coordinator for corn, said the Sarangani and Sultan Kudarat provinces will
serve as likely production areas for Bt corn in the region.

The Department of Agriculture central office last week announced in a
statement that farmers who will chose to plant the transgenic crop would be
given a subsidy worth P1,200 per hectare.

Agriculture Assistant Secretary for Operations Dennis Araullo said the
subsidy aims to boost the country's corn productivity.

Araullo said DA encourages farmers to grow high-yielding crops
developed through biotechnology, "for them to maximize profit and at the
same time solve the problem of hunger and poverty."

"We need to increase productivity. With limited land devoted for food
production and more and more agricultural lands being converted for other
purposes, the only way we can increase productivity is through an advanced
farming technology. Biotechnology is a solution to such problems," he was
quoted as saying.

Boloron said planting of Bt corn under the subsidy program will likely
kick off in the second quarter of 2008.

Around P6 million is needed for the region if the agency will
subsidize P1,200 per hectare, he said.

A hectare fetches P4,000 to P5,000 of Bt corn in the region.

But Boloron added that the 5,000 hectares are "just a conservative
target" and that there's a possibility this could extend to 10,000 hectares.

To wait for the technical committee on the subsidy, planting of the
subsidized Bt-corn would likely be implemented in May to June.

"This is the period where corn borers usually rear their ugly heads,"
he added.

Bt-corn is a genetically engineered corn induced with the Bacillus
thuringiensis, a bacteria found in soil that is natural enemy of insects
such as the Asiatic corn borer (Ostrinia furnacalis G.).

The Asiatic corn borer is said to be one of the most damaging corn
pests that can cause as much as 80 percent yield loss.

South Cotabato province is apparently not in the list of the regional
agriculture office as beneficiaries of the Bt corn subsidy program since it
has been noted as an "anti-Bt corn hotbed."

The province has an "anti-Bt corn policy," but this failed to prevent
several farmers from planting the crop in the area since the national
government supports its propagation.

In December 2002, the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) gave approval to
seed giant Monsanto for the commercial propagation of Bt corn.

Prior to the approval, militant farmers in August 2001 uprooted a Bt
corn testing site of Monsanto in Tampakan, South Cotabato to protest its
cultivation. The crop was about to be harvested at that time.

Diocese of Marbel Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez has been at the forefront
of the anti-Bt corn campaign, claiming that there's still no worldwide
scientific consensus on the safety of the transgenic crop to the human
health and the environment.

Regional Agriculture Director Abusama Alid claimed that with the
subsidy, "it does not mean that the agency is recommending Bt corn."
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