With so much potential in corn and livestock industry, the Department of Agriculture Regional Field Office No. 02 (DA RFO 02) conducted a two (2) day 2nd Corn Derby cum Regional Corn-Livestock Integration summit at the DA Cagayan Valley Research Center (CVRC), San Felipe, City of Ilagan in Isabela, August 27-28, 2019.

The 2nd regional corn derby participated in by seven (7) seed companies with 13 different corn varieties competed to determine the highest yield and net income and was also intended to present the best corn seeds and technologies available in the market.

Syngenta Philippines Inc. obtained the highest yield with its variety NK 8840 with 12,145 kg/ha while BioSeed Research Philippines, Inc. produced a net income of 136,324 and 110, 113.20 respectively for H101 G variety with an 11, 914 kg/ha.

In support of Agriculture Secretary Dr. William Dar’s new ways of thinking in the agriculture sector, this year’s theme was focused on ANI or high productivity and KITA or prosperous income for all while Cagayan Valley is towards on Agripreneurship.

Senior Special Technical Assistant of the National Corn Program Engr. Lorenzo Caranguian discussed how Masaganang Ani and Mataas na Kita are twined to nurturing and increasing the incomes of farmers and fisherfolk.

“Agribusiness is part of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) where the region mostly relies on,” said RTD Rose Mary G. Aquino adding that corn farming has seen a big potential in generating income in rural areas such as ours. But the corn farming alone was not enough to solve the problem of the decrease of income of farmers and found a way to add value in situations where prices may suddenly drop.

In the Cagayan Valley Region, a group of farmers and private individuals had ventured to silage making and feed formulation to address the gap on Climate Change issues. These technologies used are mostly beneficial to the livestock industry where they can preserve corn as the primary material to be used to feed the small and large ruminants.

“We want you to thrive, and today we will present to you all the bountiful and limitless opportunities from our invited speakers who have been there and done the best they could in the industry,” she added.

This opportunity for our farmers to collaborate and grow their network has seen on the two (2) days activity which resulted in reaching out to the government, seed companies, and the successful corn farmers and livestock raisers.

Some 1,559 participants learned from the various series of talks that include production and processing of corn as silage, the invasion of fall armyworm and the effect of in corn areas in the region, potentials of corn as silage during times of calamities and its potential as a profitable business enterprise.

The program also highlighted field tours, technology demonstrations, and exhibits. Despite the typhoon that raged the province on the said date attendees did not think twice in attending all the activities designed for them.

It requires a lot of hard work and the will to start small, Teodoro Lactao, a silage maker from Mallig, Isabela said during the rounds of the talk show. He earns 200, 000 pesos in a month by sustaining the need for livestock raisers in the region and some locations in Luzon provinces.

“I am not here to teach you how to plant corn but to share my best practices on feed formulation and why you need to start, too. It may be hard but I can guide you especially I have been practicing this through the years,” Felix Ancheta, a multi-awarded corn farmer of Cauayan City, Isabela talking to his fellows.

“The Esperanza Multi-Purpose Cooperative (EMPC) started as a small group envisioned to help its members. When we won the prestigious Gawad Saka Awards and brought home 500, 000 pesos, we opted to venture in feed formulation and now the cooperative produces 300 bags of feeds every day,” said Melanio Foronda, manager, Esperanza MPC.

“With the extensive training and my will to learn in this endeavor, I finally can say that it is worth it to leave the job I used to do for 14 years and trade it with my first love — farming,” stressed Mark Anthony Faraon, an ex-Overseas Filipino Worker from Diffun, Quirino.

The advice that Arvin Padilla wanted to instill to attendees was to keep going and take the leap of faith to pursue farming no matter what.

RTD for Operations Dr. Roberto Busania mentioned in his speech that to alleviate the current status of our farmers they must embrace mechanization and venture into agriprenuership which the agency’s core purpose.

This integration has resulted in bringing them together to achieve the most positive results in both corn farming and livestock raising.