Consistent Advocacy! Sorghum Production Program Was Actually Launched 2018

Recently, a follower of this page posted a message asking why I am making a lot of noise about Sorghum now and did not push for the development of the Sorghum Program when I was Secretary of Agriculture.
This is a common perception of some people who had not followed my advocacy in Agriculture and Food Self-Sufficiency since I was Governor of North Cotabato in 1998.
Almost all of the advocacies I carry today, including need for the farm to market linkage and the complete value chain approach to improve agricultural productivity, started when I was still a local leader in Mindanao.
The questioned Sorghum Development Program which is now being pushed by a young private company which former Senator Ping Lacson and I, along with several friends, formed in 2022, Southseas Agri-Aqua Ventures, Inc., was actually started in 2018 when I saw the need to boost feed grains production to bring down the cost of poultry and livestock feeds.
It was launched after consultations with the Philippine Association of Feed Millers (PAFMI) who were asked whether the growing of Sorghum in the country, as a complementary crop to corn, would help bring down the cost of feeds.
Their answer was “Yes” and so a series of trials were conducted on the planting of Sorghum in 2018 in every DA Regional Offices.
Following the successful trials, a budget of P100-M for Sorghum Development was submitted in 2019 and included in the 2020 General Appropriations Act.
When I resigned from the DA following my public disagreement with the members of the powerful Economic Team of President Duterte led by then Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez, the new Secretary, William Dar, scrapped the program and realigned the funds to other programs.
Dar’s dislike of Sorghum was a surprise to me because he served as head of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in India for many years and Sorghum was one of the crops promoted by the organization.
He even went to the extent of warning the DA Regional Directors against continuing with the Sorghum Program, an action which I believed was meant to please his patron, Dominguez who handpicked him, with whom I tangled with publicly.
When I moved to the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA), a small department which covered only Mindanao, I restarted the Sorghum program with the support of a Texas company, Scott Seeds Company, which donated 20 tons of seeds to the Province of Davao del Norte through MinDA.
Today, with the support of former Senator Ping Lacson and SAAVI, I continue with the advocacy to promote Sorghum, not as a replacement to Corn, but as a complementary crop to ensure sufficient supply of plant-based protein for human food and feeds for poultry and livestock.
For a small company with limited financing, the task is daunting, especially so since our first attempts to grow Sorghum suffered setbacks and failed harvests.
We are, however, steadfast in our effort to present Sorghum as a game changer in Philippine Agriculture because it is not only drought resistant but it also produces grains with higher protein content and silage for cattle, goats and sheep.
The good news is that the new DA Secretary, Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr., who unlike Dar does not present himself as an ‘Agriculture Expert’ sees the importance of Sorghum for the country’s poultry, hog and ruminants farmers.
Consistent advocacy pays off, after all.
#KungGustoMaramingParaan!
#GovernanceIsCommonSense!
(Image of a news posted by the Philippine News Agency announces the launching of the Sorghum Program to covert 100,000 hectares. Succeeding photos show the trials conducted in 2018.)