Bayer Philippines Inc. (Bayer) said it plans to penetrate the Mindanao market by promoting genetically modified (GM) corn that is known to be resistant to the devastating fall armyworm (FAW), a company official said.
Bayer Head of Communications and Public Affairs & Sustainability Bryan Rivera said the multinational is eyeing to expand its presence in Mindanao corn seed market, which is currently absent.
The venture comes after Bayer has completed its local integration with Monsanto Philippines Inc. following its global acquisition in 2018.
“For a long time, I believe we did not have a corn presence in Mindanao even during the time of Monsanto. The reason for that, is it is challenging to come up with a corn seed product for that market,” Rivera told reporters in an interview on Wednesday.
Rivera explained that compared to Luzon, Mindanao is more susceptible to pests due to its weather conditions.
Rivera said they are optimistic that they will be able to get a substantial portion of the Mindanao market as they are banking to convert corn farmers in the region to use their FAW-resistant seed variety.
“The plan is to aggressively launch two products this year. The advantage of these products is that they are adoptable in all conditions in Mindanao and the only products approved by the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority [FPA] for control against FAW,” he said.
“We have an official document that we are the only pesticide-incorporated plant that has approval for control of FAW,” he added.
Rivera is optimistic that corn growers in Mindanao
would shift to using Bayer GM corn seeds to combat the devastating FAW as they
want to minimize
potential losses from the pest. Aside from their FAW-resistance, Rivera said
the seed varieties are also high yielding at an average of 11 metric tons to 14 MT per hectare and their market price
is the same as the non-FAW resistance seeds sold in the market today.
Rivera noted that the FAW is capable of destroying as much as 50 percent of the farmers’ yield.
With their seed varieties, Rivera said corn growers could save as much as P6,000 per hectare since they will not anymore need to spray pesticide against FAW.
Aside from the corn seed varieties, Rivera disclosed that they will also introduce in Mindanao a crop protection product that would protect sweet corn and white corn against FAW.
Mindanao is the country’s top corn-growing island region accounting for more than half of the country’s annual output at an average of 4 million MT.