Whenever farmers find a crop that offers a good income and is more comfortable to work on than their existing crop, it would not take so much time for them to decide on whether or not they are going to adopt the new crop. There could be greater chances that they would switch to the new crop to make their lives a little bit more comfortable.

Such is the case of Bt corn in three towns of Pampanga, particularly in Lubao, Arayat, and Mexico. Traditionally, almost all farmers in these towns have been producing rice and sugarcane. Others are banana, mango, and eggplant. With fellow farmers in Pampanga making more profit from Bt corn, more and more farmers in these towns are going into Bt corn production.

An increasing number of farmers from these towns are turning to a new technology, called Bt corn in order to cut cost of production, increase yield, and to reduce the use of chemical sprays. Bt corn, a bio-engineered crop is resistant to the Asian corn borer, which can cause severe yield losses.

One of these farmers is Carlos “Caloy” G. Guevarra who operates a 10-hectare corn production area in Bgy. Anao, Mexico, Pampanga. Using a Pioneer hybrid 30Y73 with YieldGard Corn Borer Protection during the dry season, he was able to harvest an average yield of a record-high 10.25 metric tons per hectare, equivalent to 153 cavans. Guevarra said, “At a price of P7.50 per kilo corn grain, my gross income reached around P76,000, giving me a net of more than P50,000 per hectare.”

Guevarra likes to use this new technology even if he does not usually encounter corn borer problems in his farm because he claims that farmers can never really predict when the insect pest corn borer will significantly damage the corn fields. He likened the corn borer to a ‘natural calamity’ or typhoons.

Mr. Jay Narciso of Arayat, Pampanga considers himself as adventurous and decisive. Formerly, Narciso spent almost half of his life out of the country. He initially worked in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as a staff in the service of the Saudi Arabian Interior Minister. After 7 years, he decided to move to Switzerland and stayed in Europe for six years, after which he decided to return to his native Pampanga.

Being a son of farmers, Narciso decided to invest his earnings on corn farming. He started purchasing 2 tractors and ventured into modern farming practices, initially by planting conventional hybrid seeds. “With these regular hybrids, I would yield an average of 7 tons per hectare, which to regular standards is above average” Narciso said. Eventually, he decided to upgrade into biotech corn and planted 5 hectares of YieldGard 818. With the new technology, his yield increased to 9-10 metric tons per hectare, which improved his income by about 30%.

Farming is not new to another former overseas Filipino worker, Mr. Jesus Gavino, 52 year old from the hometown of President Arroyo, Bgy. Santiago, Lubao, Pampanga. In his youth, he would be helping his father in the farm during summers.

Gavino spent 16 years in the Middle East as a heavylift driver in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Then, he decided to come home and venture into farming. Initially, with conventional hybrids, he would average 5 tons per hectare and switching to YieldGard 818 gave him a yield record of 9-10 metric tons per hectare.

These farmers agreed that using modern technologies in corn farming, current farm yield and income levels can still be improved. All 3 of them received Plaques of Appreciation given by the Department of Agriculture and the CropLife Philippines, Inc. for successfully using modern farming technologies including use of new varieties that contribute to the attainment of the objectives of the National Corn Program. (El Bill R. Madrigal, SEARCA-BIC)