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Thai company to buy sorghum from Philippines
MANILA, Philippines — A Thai agro-industrial conglomerate has committed to buy sweet sorghum, a grain crop used as raw material for feeds, from the country as the Department of Agriculture (DA) starts the propagation of the commodity amid tight supply of corn for the growing livestock industry.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said Thai-based Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Co. Ltd. (CPF) would purchase sorghum to be produced by the indigenous people.
The DA launched the National Sorghum Development Program which targets to have an estimated one million hectares to be planted with sorghum over the next three years, focusing initially on unutilized tribal lands owned by IPs.
CPF vice chairman Sakol Cheewakoset and senior vice president Sompong Rojanaadisorn joined the launching of the sorghum program in North Cotabato. The company also inked a memorandum of understanding with the Tribal People’s Group for the purchase of sorghum.
Under the program, the DA Special Area for Agricultural Development (SAAD) will be the lead agency who will distribute seeds and fertilizers to IP farmers.
“The program is aimed at producing an additional 10-million metric tons of feed grains to support the growing livestock and poultry industry of the country which relied mainly on yellow corn and cassava as sources of protein in animal feeds,” Piñol said.
“The fast growth of the livestock and poultry sector, however, is hampered by the high cost of feed materials, especially yellow corn, prompting local feed millers to import corn and feedwheat,” he added.
Last year, feed millers imported two million MT of feedwheat with a landed cost of about P15 per kilogram, higher than the projected buying price of sorghum at P12 per kilo.
“This could drastically lower the cost of feeds which could be translated to lower price of chicken and pork in the market,” Piñol said.
While sorghum is not widely known in the Philippines, it is the world’s fifth largest grain crop, next to rice, corn, wheat, and barley. Among the leading producers are the US, Nigeria, India, China and Mexico.
The agri chief said sorghum has good potential since it undergoes ratoon cropping, a process which grows a fresh crop from the stubbles or suckers of the plant crop without replanting.
Sorghum is primarily promoted as a major source of bioethanol, but it can also provide for human food, livestock feed and forage, and organic fertilizer.
Studies show that the feed value of sorghum grain is similar to corn, making it a good source of energy and protein for feeds for poultry and cattle.
Several years ago, the private sector had planned to pilot test sorghum to lower feed cost and eventually raise the net income of farmers.
The development of sweet sorghum grains as complementary to corn grains as feed raw material is seen to raise the local poultry and livestock sectors’ competitiveness through cost reduction.
The Philippines still imports a significant percentage of corn feed and feedwheat because local production of corn is not enough.
Source: https://www.philstar.com/business/2018/11/12/1867739/thai-company-buy-sorghum-philippines#uRoVsyULs8eqPwzR.99