Davao Norte to start sorghum farming

Davao Norte to start sorghum farming Mindanao News

By Che Palicte

DAVAO CITY - Davao del Norte Cavendish banana farmers whose farms were destroyed by the dreaded Fusarium Wilt or Panama Disease will get free sorghum seeds this week from the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA).

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said the seeds already arrived after a month-long voyage from Galveston, Texas and being kept in an area designated by the Department of Agriculture in Davao Region (DA-11).

The four-metric tons of hybrid sorghum seeds are part of the 11.2-metric ton donation of Scott Seed, Co., a Texasbased seed production company, to MinDA.

Davao del Norte has been chosen by MinDA as the pilot area for the sorghum program, aimed at producing feed grains for poultry and hogs and silage for small ruminants and livestock in Mindanao. Governor Edwin Jubahib has earlier committed some areas in Talaingod town for sorghum farming, as it is a predominantly indigenous people’s (IP) community with large unutilized land and very high poverty incidence.

Jubahib, who traveled with MinDA officials to Texas last year to receive the donation from Scott Seed Co., said the introduction of sorghum to the Fusarium affected banana farms and ancestral domain areas could boost the economy of the province.

Piñol said that the remaining seeds will be distributed to other LGUs in