US firm to build rice, corn educational farms in PH

Corteva Agriscience, a New York Stock Exchange-listed agriculture company from the United States, will build rice and corn educational farms across the Philippines, following a deal it signed with the Department of Agriculture (DA).

According to a statement, Corteva Agriscience has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the DA on several possible collaboration, two of which are the development of Rice EduFarm and Corn EduFarm.

Corteva Agriscience will also help the agency on Fall Armyworm Mitigation as part of the deal.

The agreement seeks to develop 80 EduFarms and 800 TechnoFarms covering a total of 50,000 hectares of land will be established and will serve as educational training facilities across the Philippines.

For its part, the DA will be calling for progressive farmers in select municipalities across the country to participate in the EduFarms.

This project will commence in November 2019, with lead farmers expected to graduate in May 2020.

“The project aims to improve Filipino farmers’ rice and corn productivity and profitability through access to agronomic education as well as new seed and crop protection technologies,” the DA said.

The EduFarms will provide farmers with season-long, on-field and inclassroom training that will cover land and seed preparation; seed applied technology and farm mechanization; planting density; weed control and nutrient management; insect and disease control; harvesting and processing; as well as marketing and financial management.