Farmers in Isabela are now earning more by growing genetically modified (GM) or Bt corn.

This was found in a study by three researchers of the Isabela State Univerity (ISU), a six-campus school in Isabela which is the biggest government tertiary institution in the Cagayan Valley.

Titled "Economic Impact of Bt Corn Farms in Isabela," the research was done in 2005 by Dr. Alberto Domingo (study leader), Dr. Helen Ramos, and Monalinda Cadiz. Domingo, Ramos, and Cadiz are professor, associate professor, and assistant professor, respectively.

Their research formed part of the Biotechnology program for the Cagayan Valley supported by the Los Baños-based Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCARRD).

The study looked into the expending Bt corn production area in Isabela and determined the crop’s economic advantage over hybrid corn varieties.

Results showed that Bt corn yielded 5.32 tons per hectare during the wet season, which is more than twice the national average corn yield of 2.4 t/ha. Bt corn harvest during the dry season was 4.56 t/ha.

Non-Bt corn, on the other hand, produced only 4.2 t/ha during the wet season and 4.09 t/ha during the dry season.

"At the average price of P6 per kilo during the wet season and P7/kg during the dry season, the yield advantage was worth P10,260 and P8,470 for the wet season and for the dry season, respectively," the ISU researchers said.

They also noted that input (seeds and fertilizer) was higher in Bt corn.

However, they pointed out, "the yield advantage per hectare of Bt corn more than offset its higher production cost, hence, an increase in net income of P6,000 to P8,000 per season."

Moreover, the use of Bt corn significantly reduced insecticide use because of the Bt crop’s built-in "defense mechanism" against destructive corn pests, particularly the Asian corn borer.

Summing up, Drs. Domingo, Ramos, and Cadis recalled that four years after the first Bt corn field trial was conducted in Isabela, the hectarage of corn farms planted to the transgenic crop expanded considerably.

>From a few hundred hectares, the area devoted to Bt corn in Isabela as of 2005 had reached 34,215 ha (Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Plant Industry figures), making it the biggest Bt corn producer in the country today.

The ISU study, the researchers concluded, "legitimized the role of modern biotechnology in agricultural productivity, notably for Isabela which is the second largest corn producer in the country."