The Department of Agriculture (DA) said it may spend P15 billion until 2022 to plant sorghum in lands owned by indigenous peoples (IP) to meet the growing demand for cheaper animal feeds.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol told the BusinessMirror that the DA is targeting to identify 100,000 hectares for sorghum planting next year. The government’s will plant sorghum in 3 million hectares at a cost of P5,000 per hectare.
Piñol said the DA would spend P5 billion starting 2020 to hit its target of opening up 1 million hectares of sorghum plantation per year until 2022. The initiative is part of the National Sorghum Development Program, which seeks to develop idle tribal lands owned by marginalized indigenous peoples, launched by the DA on November 10.
“The sorghum program is aimed at producing an additional 10 million metric tons of feed grains to support the growing livestock and poultry industry of the country, which relied mainly on yellow corn and cassava as sources of protein in animal feeds,” he said in a Facebook post on Sunday.
“The fast growth of the livestock and poultry sector, however, is hampered by the high cost of feed materials, especially yellow corn, prompting local feed millers to import corn and feed wheat,” Piñol added.
The agriculture chief said the production of local sorghum would be a cheaper alternative to imported feed wheat, which has an estimated landed cost of about P15 per kilogram. The projected buying price of sorghum is pegged at P12 per kg, according to Piñol.
“This could drastically lower the cost of feeds, which could be translated to cheaper chicken and pork,” he said.
Piñol said Charoen Pokphand Foods Philippines Corp. has already committed to purchase the sorghum produced by the IP communities. Officials from CPFC, including its vice chairman, Sakol Cheewakoset, attended the launch of the DA’s sorghum program, according to Piñol.
“[CPFC] Senior Vice President for Livestock Feed Business Sompong Rojanaadisorn signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Tribal People’s Group pledging to purchase the sorghum production from the ancestral domain areas,” he said.
The DA, through its Special Area for Agricultural Development program, would provide the necessary production support to the IP communities that will participate in the program.
The DA would also establish sorghum pilot farms in every region “to serve as learning sites for other farmers who would like to participate in the program,” he added.
Image credits: U.S. Department of Agriculture