By The Department of Agriculture (DA-7) with the Cebu Provincial Agriculture Office (PAO), Local Government Unit (LGU) of Asturias, Cebu and Virginia Farms Incorporated conducted the corn varietal derby in Asturias town in Cebu 1st week of December this year to showcase corn production of various corn varieties.
DA-7 Regional Executive Director Atty. Salvador Diputado said that the corn derby is a tri-partite sectoral collaboration among government, LGUs and private companies to help uplift the lives of the farmers in Cebu.
The 4.5 hectare corn derby area is owned by Virginia Farms showcasing seven different high yielding corn varieties from three private seed companies—Syngenta Philippines Inc., Bayer Crop Science Inc., and Corteva Agriscience.
“This corn derby showed an example of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) sharing of resources of key players of corn like the Virginia Farms, seed companies, LGUs and farmers, will benefit from this derby,” Diputado said.
Diputado added that the derby is a performance-base activity of the seven corn varieties that will produce the highest yield following only one fertilizer recommendation. These varieties are also pest and diseases resistance with an expected harvest of 10-14 tons per hectare.
According to Marya Zea Villaganas, the Provincial Corn Coordinator of Cebu that the activity is part of the province’s “Enhanced Countryside Development Project.” Fifteen municipalities have already visited the corn derby area.
“We need to expand our yellow corn production area because of the increasing demand for feeds. We have big piggeries and poultry farms here in Cebu and other institutional buyers,” Villaganas said.
