Build It, They’ll Come! Soybeans, Sorghum Programs Gain Attention, Support From DA

Almost a year after Sorghum production was introduced by our young company, the Southseas Agri-Aqua Ventures Inc. (SAAVI), and 5 months after I established a Soybeans Seed Production Farm, the Department of Agriculture has finally taken notice of the programs and offered to provide technical assistance and documentation.
Yesterday, DA Director U Nichols Manalo who also covers Soybeans and Sorghum, told me that they are proposing a bigger budget for the two commodities which are currently lumped under the National Corn Program.
Earlier, the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) dispatched a team to my Soybeans expansion area in M’lang, North Cotabato, to help supervise and document the protocols in the propagation of Soybeans.
The BPI team, led by BPI 12 Chief Khaled Dorgolan, was dispatched by BPI Director Glenn Panganiban to assist me in documenting the second cropping of Soybeans using seeds which I produced in a small area owned by the Dolefil Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Cooperative in Polomolok, South Cotabato.
Even without a planting protocol to guide me and my team, we were able to produce 2.3-metric tons of Soybeans seeds from out of the two varieties given to me by Director Ricardo Oñate of DA Caraga Region.
The BPI documentation is important in getting an accreditation from the National Seed industry Council for the two Non-GMO Soybeans varieties.
On Monday, the same BPI Team will join me and my crew in launching the Sorghum Production Program in Alamada, North Cotabato, our new area of expansion which I chose because of an expected long drought due to El Niño.
Alamada, one of the fertile agricultural areas of North Cotabato, has a very high moisture which in previous El Niño occurrences was hardly affected at all.
We will also be implementing new planting protocols for Sorghum which we were able to establish following costly lessons learned from previous areas were we failed to attain our target yields.
Personally, I am happy that the initiative SAAVI made on Sorghum and my personal advocacy to promote the propagation of Soybeans are now being acknowledged by the Dept. of Agriculture as important agricultural programs.
Sorghum is considered as an ideal protein source for animal feeds with a higher crude protein than Corn which could withstand long dry spells.
The cost of the seeds and its fertilization requirements is also less than Corn.
Soybeans, on the other hand, is an indispensable commodity in feeds production with the country importing some P55-B worth of Full Fat Soya and Soybean Meal every year.
By next year, the seeds that I will be able to produce from Soybeans Development Program could cover at least 100,000-hectares.
#KungGustoMaramingParaan!
#DoingWhatTheySayCantBeDone!