Tribute to Daddy Ben
Benito Magno Domingo is fondly called “BM” by friends from the academe and the seed industry, “Sir Ben” by his employees, and simply “Daddy Ben” by his family. An only child who was born and raised in Calaba, San Isidro, Nueva Ecija, he was not as you would call it, “born with proverbial silver spoon.” He learned how to fend for himself as he was orphaned at a very young age.
His aunt “Tiya Itang” stood as his mother/father rolled into one. He studied at the local school and only went to Manila for his college studies.
He believes in the Filipino farmer and the important role he plays in nation-building. That’s the reason for the signage in his farm –“THANK A FARMER EVERYDAY” – and for his efforts in working towards empowering farmers to have access to high quality and high yielding seeds.
His farm in Aurora, Isabela is witness to his dedication and hard work towards his goal of empowering farmers. His farm was once a bustling vegetable seed production area (tomato, cucumber, cabbage, watermelon, melon, etc.) shared with a vast rice seed production area.
He believed that corn will play a major role in the agriculture industry in the coming years, so he worked to establish a hybrid yellow corn seed company named Cornworld Breeding Systems Corporation in 1989.
A modest player in the corn seed business, BM continued to study and observe the industry. He believed in continuous research and development to develop the corn variety well suited to our environment.
He would later on explore Corn Mechanization in order to increase and maximize production. He believed that we can match the US production if we improve land preparation and cultural practices. He imported highpowered tractors, planters, tillers, and even corn harvesters in order to make corn farming more efficient thus increasing production.
In 1999, Cornworld forged an agreement with Mt. Pinatubo Commission and NABCOR to develop a minimum of 300 hectares of idled land covered by lahar in Magalang, Pampanga, using an all-mechanized corn production practice.
This generated an average yield of 4MT per hectare in grains. But unfortunately after one cropping, the supposed to be two-year project was scrapped by the National Administration.
To date Cornworld has developed more than 20 high yielding and resistant yellow corn varieties approved by NCT. Currently, it is marketing more than three high yielding and resistant yellow hybrid varieties. It has an average seed production area of 200 hectares per cropping producing around 30,000 bags of yellow hybrid corn seeds.