Sugar planters shift to cassava

ORMOC CITY — A group of sugar planters here is willing to convert 100 hectares of sugarcane plantations into cassava farms.

Climaco Evangelista, chairman of the board of the Occidental Leyte Farmers Cooperative Association and president of the Ormoc Chamber of Commerce, said he will convince each member to try planting cassava.

"This might be better than sugarcane once this goes full blast," he said. A hectare could yield up to 60 tons of cassava, or up to P100,000 worth of cassava.

Early Seven Marketing, which is based in Ormoc, has been buying sliced or semi-processed cassava for P2 per kilo.

It has committed to purchase the group’s harvest and has linked up with the Land Bank of the Philippines and the Metro Ormoc Credit Cooperative (OCCCI) to provide micro-financing facilities to the farmers. The Visayas State University in Baybay will provide technical assistance.