Corn Farming in Alfonso Lista
The
implications of promoting the market-oriented
production of modern plant breeds among Cordillera peasants
If former President
Marcos had his “Green Revolution” and “miracle rice” program, the Arroyo
administration has its agricultural modernization program and Bt corn. But
the effects on the peasantry are the same dependence on creditors,
indebtedness, soil degradation, and worsening pest infestation. And the
peasants sink deeper into the problems of feudal bondage and poverty.
by Fernando Bagyan and Lulu Gimenez
Northern Dispatch
Posted by Bulatlat
Anti-corn importation rally by farmers
PHOTO BY ACE ALEGRE |
High Impact on Agro-input Utilization and Credit Availment Patterns
All corn farmers in Alfonso Lista, a town in Ifugao province bordering
Isabela province in Northern Luzon, grow high-input varieties because they
find these more productive and marketable. Some use genetically modified
varieties but the majority are content with simple hybrids.
The peasants of Alfonso Lista were introduced to genetically engineered
varieties of corn, also known as GMOs, by agricultural input suppliers in
Isabela who had entered into dealership contracts with the corporations
that developed them as well as officials from the Department of
Agriculture (DA)
Bt corn was brought to Isabela by Monsanto. It was during the field trials
the company conducted in 2000. Three years later, Monsanto’s Dekalb
Yieldgard (DK 818 YG) reached Alfonso Lista.
But two years since,
Bt corn has yet to become the area’s seed choice. Farm operators choose it
only when they are late in starting their crop. Farmers have observed that
Bt corn is more resistant to drought and corn borers, compared to the
terminators and simple hybrids; also, rats avoid it.
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As much as possible,
the peasants of Alfonso Lista steer clear of Bt corn because they
experience severe itching when handling the plants during crop care and
threshing, as well as when handling the corn grain during shelling and
drying. In addition, they have heard reports from fellow corn producers
that there have been cases in Lamut, Ifugao of carabaos dying after eating
the vegetative parts of the corn. Cattle’s hooves get cut when trampling
corn stubbles in newly harvested fields.
An additional
consideration is that the seeds of DK 818 YG cost about twice as much as
other corn seeds (P4,650 vs. P2,300 to P2,800 per 18-kilogram sack). The
herbicides required in the crop care are also much expensive (P1,350 vs.
P250 to P900 per one-liter bottle). [The Bacillus thuringensis in
Bt corn transfers to any weeds surrounding the corn plots and makes these
weeds just as sturdy as the corn crop. Thus, there is the necessity of
applying a very powerful herbicide specifically formulated to kill “Bt
weeds”.]
The peasants of
Alfonso Lista are not yet aware of the findings that the Bacillus
thuringensis protein in Bt corn can be transferred to other plants in
the farm environment, including any food crops that they grow near their
corn fields for their own households’ consumption. Nor are they aware of
the findings that the antibiotic markers that allowed the Bacillus
thuringensis protein to be spliced into corn DNA can significantly
reduce the ability of both people and livestock consuming corn grain to
make use of antibiotics like Streptomycin. Most likely, had the people of
Alfonso Lista been aware of these findings, they would be even less
receptive to Bt corn – not withstanding the aggressive promotion of this
GMO by their agricultural input suppliers, Monsanto and the government.
For them, the seed of
choice is Syngenta’s NK 5447, a hybrid with a longer cob and more kernels.
On the average, corn
producers use about eight cavans (400 kilograms) of fertilizer per hectare
for a relatively new field. Fields that have been in use for several
years require larger amounts. Some cornfields require an average of
twelve to fourteen cavans (600 to 700 kilograms) of fertilizer.
Fertilizer costs P740 to P970 per cavan.
The corn producers
utilize herbicides quite heavily because they find this more economical
than hiring extra-household labor. It would take ten persons to weed one
hectare of cornfield for one day. Wages and food for 10 persons would
cost up to P1,700. Herbicides would do the job for a minimum of P250 to a
maximum of P1,350.
Lack of credit
Most of the
corn-producing peasants of Alfonso Lista lack money to spend on the inputs
they need; thus, they avail of credit. However, there are no functional
credit institutions within the municipality. Both government and private
agencies have tried to establish cooperatives, but all the co-ops they
started have gone bankrupt because of mismanagement.
Some of the peasants
get credit from the Santiago branch (Isabela) of the Quedan and Rural
Credit Guarantee Corporation (Quedancor), which is affiliated with the
Department of Agriculture (DA). Quedancor has been re-organized and
placed directly under the office of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Its main function is to provide credit for endeavors in line with GMA’s
agricultural modernization priorities.
Quedan borrowers need
to have a group of at least three individuals. Collateral is required,
usually in the form of land. The loan is given in the form of seeds,
fertilizers, and pesticides. It matures within six months, at an interest
rate of 1.5% monthly.
Majority of the
farmers of Alfonso Lista do not avail of credit from Quedancor because
they refuse to put their land as collateral. Land is precious to peasants
from indigenous Cordillera cultures so they find it difficult to surrender
it as collateral.
They access credit
from agricultural input dealers in Santiago, Isabela. The creditor
arranges all the necessary inputs at an interest of 30% for one cropping.
The debtor is obliged to sell his or her crop to the creditor even if
other dealers offer higher prices. No collateral is required. But
reneging on the terms of the loan will have dire consequences. The debtor
will be blacklisted by the creditor and lose access to future loans –
unless the debtor’s inability to deliver his or her harvest and payment of
the loan is due to crop failure. In this case, the payment of the loan
will simply have to be made at the next harvest, but at double the
interest. In the meantime, the debtor will have to take out another loan
for the next cropping season.
Produce Buying and
Pricing
The dealers classify
the corn they receive and pay according to its appearance and moisture
content. Freshly harvested corn is classified as sariwa (fresh).
Corn that has been sun-dried for a few days is classified as skin-dry.
Corn that has been dried completely is classified as ready-to-mill. Each
category is further sub-categorized into Class A, B, and C, depending on
grain quality.
Category |
Price per Kilo (pesos) |
Sariwa (fresh) |
3.00 – 4.00 |
Skin-Dry |
5.50 – 6.50 |
Ready to Mill |
7.50 – 9.50 |
No instruments are
used to accurately measure moisture content and grain quality. The dealer
simply scoops up a handful of corn grain, classifies it by sight, and
quotes the corresponding price. Cases of under-classification are thus
common.
Many of Alfonso
Lista’s peasants feel that beyond the matter of moisture content – which
naturally affects weight – classification is quite unnecessary. No matter
the variations in grain quality, all the corn is mixed together when
milled.
There has not been
much variation in the price matrix for the last five years. The
probability of a higher price is very remote because of abundant supply
especially with the liberalization of agricultural imports.
In fact, it often
happens that the corn market gets temporarily flooded. Then grain dealers
stop buying. At such times, the peasants of Alfonso Lista are forced to
store their corn, affecting grain quality.
Implications of
the government’s agricultural modernization program
The government plays
a key role in promoting modern corn breeds among the peasants of Alfonso
Lista. The Municipal Agricultural Office (MAO)- Alfonso Lista has also
been conducting field trials and technology demonstrations using different
corn seeds provided free by the agricultural input-producing firms like
Monsanto (through its Philippine research partner, Ayala), Syngenta,
Pioneer, Corn World, BioSeed, and Asian Hybrid. In addition, the MAO has
been selling these firms’ corn seeds to first-time users at subsidized
prices, equivalent to half of the prevailing market price. The
availability of credit from Quedancor is used as incentive to corn growers
using modern corn breeds.
The experiences of
corn-producing peasants in Alfonso Lista underscore the seriousness of the
implications posed by the Philippine government’s promotion of the
market-oriented production of modern plant breeds through its agricultural
modernization programs.
First, the modernization program does not
alter the traditional feudal relations in agricultural production and
trade, such as those that pertain to input supply, credit and the sale of
the produce. Peasants become dependent on and heavily indebted to
creditors who control the supply of inputs as well as the trading of
produce.
Second, peasants are
caught in a pattern of steadily increasing input utilization. At first,
the use of inputs increases because of the compulsion to earn more to be
able to pay a standing debt by increasing the area planted with corn.
Since land is limited, peasants eventually practice monocropping. This
leads to problems related to soil degradation and pest infestation,
thereby progressively increasing the utilization of fertilizers and
pesticides.
Worse, peasants, such
as those from the Vegetable Belt- from La Trinidad, Benguet northward to
Bauko, Mountain Province and eastward to Tinoc, Ifugao are no longer able
to cope with unpaid loans especially after being affected by incidences of
crop failure and dips in the prices of agricultural produce. Ironically,
the effect is that they had to contract more loans to be able to purchase
goods for their subsistence such as rice, dried fish, and processed foods.
They again turn to agricultural input dealers for credit and the cycle of
indebtedness continues. This reinforces the centuries-old problem of
feudal bondage and worsening poverty for the peasantry. Bulatlat
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