Biotechnology research firm Monsanto Philippines Inc. (MPI) is harvesting this dry season the first genetically modified (GM) corn over 120 hectares of land and is anticipating an accelerated pick-up of the technology as the GM crop has offered solutions to the perennial corn borer problem among farmers.

Noel Borlongan, MPI spokesman, said in an interview that harvest on commercial scale for Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn is already ongoing on corn areas all over Ilocos, Isabela, Pangasinan, Camarines Sur in Bicol, and Misamis Oriental.

He said that the first cropping is expected to encourage farmers to shift to the technology for the next planting.

"We are expecting 100 percent corn borer protection. In Isabela, if the normal yield for hybrid corn is five tons per hectare, we're getting six tons per hectare from Bt corn," he said.

Before Bt corn's commercialization approval, MPI has been  distributing hybrid corn to the Philippines which already has a  significant edge over open pollinated varieties (OPV). OPVs has sent the Philippine's corn yield average to just one metric ton (MT) per hectare over the years. And yet the Bt corn, which has the protein gene that is resistant to corn borer can yield as much as eight to nine MT per hectare Borlongan said.

Borlongan said that while the first season commercial planting only involved 120 hectares, planting for the wet season is estimated to reach to 15,000 hectares.

"We expect all 15,000 bags (of Bt corn seeds for commercial planting) to be sold out because farmers have been waiting for it for a long time," he said.

MPI's Bt corn variety MON 810 has the permit to be consumed both as feed and food. However, Borlongan explained that yellow corn is basically used for feed rather than food. 

MPI has initially imported from South Africa the Bt corn seeds for commercial planting in the Philippines during the dry season. But the company is targeting to eventually produce all Bt corn seed requirement from the local farms.

The Philippines imports around one million MT of corn and corn substitutes yearly as the feed processing industry has been requiring around 5.5 million MT of corn annually.

As part of the solution to fill in the production gap, the government has approved commercialization of Bt corn after three years of greenhouse and field testing.

Government is also working on cutting down post harvest loss which reaches to 10 to 20 percent of harvest particularly in large corn areas in Mindanao including General Santos and Bukidnon. Mindanao produces around 60 percent of corn supply in the country, but a majority of feed requirement is needed to be shipped to Luzon.