GENERAL SANTOS CITY - With the booming cornhusk handicraft industry, several individual farmers, farming cooperatives, and groups have expressed their keen interest in learning the craft.

The Buhay, Pangkabuhayan, at Mais (BPM) community project, spearheaded by Pioneer Hi-Bred Philippines, Inc., is one of the key factors in promoting this worthwhile activity in South Mindanao. At present, 15,000 corn-farming families in the area were given additional source of income through cornhusk handicraft. Each family can attain an extra income of P400 per day from each member who works 8 hours a day with a working capital of P50 for raw materials.

Rooted with the mission of helping Filipino corn farmers not only by providing them access to the best corn seed technology but also in helping them augment their family income through community development programs, Pioneer decided to extend the reach of BPM to several other locations.

Through a memorandum of agreement (MOA) signed by Pioneer and the Corn Husk Association of the Philippines (CHAP) for BPM, more farmers across the country will now be able to avail of the trainings in cornhusk handicraft. Trainings have been scheduled for implementation in Luzon and North Mindanao. This effort will also lead to the formation and affiliation of local chapters of CHAP, which will then implement activities to ensure more farmers will be taught with the skills. These local chapters will also be tasked to coordinate with each other in establishing market linkages with local and international buyers.

On top of the economic benefits, environmental degradation will also be alleviated since cornhusks, which are usually burned after threshing, will now be used as prime raw material in this livelihood activity.

"This project reflects our intention of demonstrating our sense of sustainable corporate responsibility," Jet Parma, country manager of Pioneer Hi-Bred Philippines articulated. "We hope that the economic and environmental impact of this activity will benefit not only corn farmers but the whole Philippine society in general," Parma concluded.