Tuesday, November 25, 2008

ZamboNorte corn farmers welcome trading center

JONG CADION
Chief of reporters

Corn farmers from Zamboanga del Norte commended the newly inaugurated Corn Post-Harvest Processing and Trading Center in Sergio Osmeña saying it helped them a lot in turning their harvested corn into an expressly marketed product.

The processing and trading center costs P33-million to build and is complete with corn sheller, mechanical dryer and corn mill.

The said facility is a joint venture the town of Sergio Osmeña, the National Agribusiness Corporation (NAGCOR), the Provincial Government, DA’s GMA Corn Program and Rep. Cecilia Jalosjos-Carreon.

The post harvest facility can accommodate five tons of corn produce daily from farmers in the locality and even those from Polanco, Piñan, Katipunan, Sergio Osmeña and Josefina, Mahayag and Dumingag in ZamboSur.

DA regional executive director Oscar Parawan said corn farmers could sell their corncobs from the farm directly to the trading center without shelling and drying them.

“All they need is to bring the newly harvested corn to the hauler or truck site and the Corn Post harvest Trading Center will do the scaling, drying, shelling, and bagging.

At present, Ramon Magsaysay, Dumalinao, Ipil as well as Liloy and Sindangan in Zamboanga del Norte are planning to establish the same corn processing facility. WITH MARK BRIAN LARIDE