Corn farming attracting farmers’ interest, says Wong

The first trial of 12 bags of corn seedlings planted in the Mandres area of inland Baining are growing well, Gazelle MP Jelta Wong says.
“This is now attracting the interest of farmers,” he added.
Wong, who is also Health and HIV/AIDS Minister, said the re-introduction of the project was managed by the Gazelle Business Corporation Ltd (GBCL).
The project was initiated in 2006 under the former Gazelle MP, Sinai Brown, but came to a halt and interest lost due to the change of leadership in Parliament.
GBCL’s corn project manager Robert Augustine said about 5ha were cleared for the corn seedlings and a remaining 1.5ha was still being ploughed for planting.
He said locals were engaged to fast track work.
Augustine said five mothers were involved in preparing the seeds for planting and their knowledge would later be used for training others.
From the 12 bags of hybrid corn seedlings weighing 25kg each, four bags had already been used up.
Augustine said the corn mill currently being shipped from the Philippines was expected to arrive soon.
The project was designed to cultivate corn with farmers and schools to produce another source of food and by products for animal feed.