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."