DA plans cultivation of high-yield, pest-resistant cassava

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Agriculture plans large-scale propagation of high-yielding, pest-tolerant hybrid cassava varieties in 300,000 hectares of land by 2010, a press statement on Monday said. Through hybrid varieties, the department seeks to raise average yield per hectare to 15 tons by then from the current 8.93 tons. The program also expects to generate 300,000 jobs. Cassava is used as a rice substitute, milled for livestock and poultry feeds, and is being studied for blending with bioethanol. This year, the department has allotted P15 million to cultivate 215,000 hectares of cassava farms to produce 2.04 million metric tons worth some P5.3 billion. In the first semester, cassava output rose by 4.6% to 949,810 MT from 907,990 MT produced during the same period last year. Last year, cassava output to-talled 1.87 million MT worth P4.9 billion. The development plan, dubbed "Cassava Production in the Philippines," was funded by the department’s Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA) Corn Program and the GMA High Value Commercial Crops Program. In a report to Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap, Assistant Secretary and GMA Corn Program National Coordinator Dennis R. Araullo said hybrid varieties, registered in the National Seed Industry Council as NSIC Cv22 (KU-50), Lakan I and Golden Yellow, are under propagation in the department’s 16 regional field units. The department has also engaged in a P3-million tissue culture project with the Visayas State University-based PhilRootscrops to produce several million pieces of plantlets of hybrid varieties. An estimated 700,000 culture bottles, equivalent to 5.6 million plantlets, can be generated by PhilRootcrops annually, which will begin some time this second half. Mr. Araullo said in an interview that seed production will run for four months to one year. "By 2009, we can feel [sic] the higher production of cassava." The plantlets will then be distributed to regional agriculture research centers, "where they will be nurtured, propagated and sold to farmers and companies venturing into commercial-scale cassava production, or planting material distribution," the statement said. San Miguel Corp., a leading miller of livestock and poultry feeds, will buy bulk of the cassava produce to combine with corn in producing feeds, Mr. Araullo said in a phone interview. Cassava is sold at the farmgate price of P5 per kilogram, cheaper than yellow corn which is sold at a farmgate price of P10. The country’s top cassava-producing regions are the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Northern Mindanao, Bicol, Central and Eastern Visayas. Meanwhile, Mr. Araullo said "the department will push for the use of organic fertilizers," which cost P450-500 per bag, cheaper than petrochemical fertilizers now priced at P1,600-2,000 per bag from P850/bag a year ago. — Neil Jerome C. Morales, BusienessWorld