THAI FIRM TO PURCHASE
SORGHUM FROM IP LANDS
By Manny Piñol
Even before the first Sorghum seeds could be planted by the Tribes in vast Ancestral Domain areas, a huge multinational poultry and livestock corporation has already pledged to buy the production of the IP Communities.
Yesterday, top officials of the Charoen Pokphand Foods (CP) based in the Philippines visited the Department of Agriculture (DA) to express their interest in supporting The Sorghum Development Program intended mainly for IP communities with vast unutilized lands.
Led by Sakol Cheewakoset, Vice Chairman for
Agro – Industrial Business Group Philippines Area, Sompong Rojanaadisorn, Senior Vice President
Livestock Feed Business and Udomsak Aksornphakdee, President for Aquaculture, CPF Philippines pledged to buy the Sorghum produced by the Tribal Communities.
Sorghum is an excellent animal feeds material with high protein content comparable to Yellow Corn.
Unlike Yellow Corn whose planting materials are very expensive and requires efficient farm management and regular fertilization, Sorghum, classified as Grass, thrives in marginal areas and even in poor soil.
A farmer who plants Sorghum could have three harvests from the same field because Sorghum could grow ratoons twice after cutting.
Sorghum could also be planted even without plowing the fields as it could be sown in staked holes.
The leaves also remain green even at maturity making it an ideal forage material for cattle and goats.
The DA will start propagating Sorghum in the IP Ancestral Domains as part of the 4Ks Program or Kabuhayan at Kaunlaran ng Kababayang Katutubo which is implemented under the Special Areas for Agricultural Development (SAAD).
SAAD Director Bernadette San Juan and National IP Coordinator Camilo Andi, Jr. have been tasked to handle the program.
The CP officials yesterday informed me that they are interested in entering into a marketing agreement with the IP communities who will produce Sorghum.
Other farmers interested to participate in the Sorghum Development Program will also be linked up with feed millers who have been looking for good feed materials at lower cost.
( Photos show the CPF Philippines executives during their call on the Agriculture Secretary yesterday and the Sorghum pilot area in my farm in Kidapawan City.)
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