SOME 20,000 hectares of cassava farm lands are targeted as expansion areas this year in Central Mindanao with corporate giant San Miguel Corp. as the buyer.

The regional office of the Department of Agriculture (DA), through the Central Mindanao Integrated Agricultural Research Center based in Tupi, South Cotabato and San Miguel, recently agreed on a partnership to boost cassava production in the area.

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Appearing bullish to reach the target expansion area, Tommy A. Ala, DA-Central Mindanao regional director, urged farmers to plant cassava, noting there's a ready market through San Miguel.

"In pursuing aggressively the promotion of this crop, it can provide alternative income to the farmers and can generate employment," Ala said.

Ala stressed the Agriculture department has developed a high-yielding cassava variety, KU-50, that could produce 40 to 50 metric tons (MT) per hectare.

The existing cassava variety grown in Central Mindanao region, the bulk of which is in South Cotabato province, yields between 20 to 30 MT, said Dannie L. Baldado, the company's cassava area coordinator.

Current cassava plantations in the region, Baldado added, total 3,500 hectares and San Miguel alone is targeting to increase it to 4,500 hectares next year.

In volume, the region produces 17,000 MT, at least 15,000 MT of which are coming from South Cotabato province, he said.

Existing prices of cassava stood at P2.50 per kilo for the freshly harvested and more than double for the dried product, Sun.Star learned.

Early this month, the regional Agriculture office and San Miguel held a cassava harvest festival in Tupi, South Cotabato to jump start their partnership to promote cassava farming in the Central Mindanao area.

Ala said that promoting cassava as a cash crop is part of their mandate to alleviate poverty and ensure food stability in the countryside.

"Cassava is food and [money earner because it] is a source of [biofuel] energy, and could be used for other industrial purposes like flour, starch and feeds," he explained.

Joel Cadiao, a representative from the national Agriculture office, said cassava, along with corn and soybeans, is a major focus area of the agency under the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani program.

"These crops support the livestock and poultry industry in the country and they are also sources of food," he said.

Based on the regional Agriculture office's research, cassava yield per hectare was highest in South Cotabato at 26.7 MT per hectare, followed by Misamis Oriental at 24 MT.

The national average yield of cassava is only nine metric tons per hectare but the Agriculture department targets to raise it to 21 MT in 2014, it added.

As of Sunday, 48 varieties of cassava are registered to National Seed Industry Commission, the regional Agriculture office said. (BSS)