Tuesday, March 06, 2007 Bid for longest grilled corn
BANGA, South Cotabato -- Thousands of people from all walks of life flocked in this sleepy town Thursday and munched on grilled corn.
The town's bid for a Guinness Book of World Records on the longest corn grilled over charcoal was an effort to boost the municipality's claim that it is the "Corn Capital of the Philippines."
Local officials will soon send documentation to Guinness for the much-coveted recognition.
The attempt was undertaken by laying a three-meter wide bamboo grill over an estimated six-kilometer stretch of the highway from Barangay El Nonok to Barangay Liwanay. It crisscrossed the national highway towards the municipal plaza and ended at the southern boundary of the town.
Vice Mayor Alex Garcia, chair of the longest corn grilling activity, said that despite delays, the event was "a success."
"As far we are concerned, the activity was triumphantly done," he told reporters.
Grilling of the corn was supposed to start at 7 a.m. but was delayed to about 10 a.m. due to distribution problem of corn and the charcoal.
Students took time out from their classes to cook the corn over charcoal as teachers, housewives, and the elderly were looking over them. Commuters stopped by the roadside to ask for grilled corn, which the students happily obliged.
However, there were complaints that most of the corns are already too mature to be eaten.
Garcia said the local government spent about P100,000 for the corn grilling activity, with P50,000 for procurement of the corn, P30,000 for the charcoal, and an estimated P20,000 for the bamboo grills.
The longest grilled-corn record in the country was that of Upi in Shariff Kabunsuan at 300 meters, he added.
The bid for the longest grilled corn was timed with the opening of the five-day "1st Mindanao Corn Farmers' Congress."
It was also the second National Corn Congress and attended by major corn seed and fertilizer companies and other allied industries. The first national corn congress was held last year in Dagupan City, Pangasinan.
Banga town, local officials said, is the top corn producer in South Cotabato, a province that claims to supply 40 percent of the country's corn requirements.
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap was the main guest of the event where a modern corn post-harvest facility worth P23 million was also inaugurated.
Yap urged farmers to plant more corn, saying it is in demand now domestically and internationally since it can be used as ingredient for the production of biodiesel, particularly ethanol.
He stressed that the country's corn production last year increased by 15 percent and the department expects to equal, if not surpass, the figure this year.
"But while we have an increase production, our farmers are still beset by profitability. I interviewed a farmer moments ago and he said corn's buying price hovers between P6 to P7 per kilo," Yap said.
He said his department is seeking means to increase prices of corn to improve the plight of the farmers.
Last year, Yap said the country's corn production reached 6 million metric tons and the department's target for this year is 6.3 to 6.4 million metric tons.
