One of the leading voices in the Philippine agri-biotech community, Edwin Paraluman shares how Bt corn has transformed his life and the importance of supporting the agribiotech sector.
"Don't follow my footsteps," Edwin recalls his father's stern advice. A corn farmer himself, his father experienced the difficulties of a farmer's life firsthand. Following his advice, Edwin worked for a machinery company but later gravitated back to his first love - farming.
"My father and I have been planting corn since I was young. Since then, corn borers were always our problem," Edwin shares. Their attacks became more widespread over time, which put Edwin's livelihood at risk. Although agriculture is fulfilling, Edwin was later forced to stop planting corn due to the damage and losses caused by the corn borer.
"The arrival of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn in the Philippines in 2003 was a huge relief for us farmers," he says. Bt corn is a genetically modified (GM) crop that has built-in resistance to the Asiatic corn borer. Edwin was one of the first adopters of the GM crop in the country and as he planted his first five hectares of Bt corn, his father's worries became a thing of the past.
Download for free
PDF format in this language: English
