April 22, 2009

Philippine Bounty Agro Ventures Inc. has shut down its feed mill in Negros Occidental province, Western Visayas region, due to the lack of supply of non-genetically modified (GM) corn.

The Negros Occidental provincial government has banned the use of GM corn in food and feed production.

Dante Samonte, head of the company's feed milling operations for Visayas and Mindanao, said the company shut down the feed mill last week as it could not get enough supply of non-GM corn to sustain the milling operations of its Negros Occidental facility.

However, the provincial government seized another shipment of whole corn consigned to Bounty Fresh Agro Ventures that was allegedly genetically modified.

Provincial agriculturist Igmedio Tabianan said the corn that was seized is found to be genetically modified after it was shipped from Iloilo to the Bacolod Real Estate Development Corp. port in Bacolod City.

Samonte denied that the corn shipped from Iloilo came from the same shipment they sent to Cebu, which was considered genetically modified.

He explained that it was difficult to source enough non-genetically modified corn as most areas in the Philippines did not have a ban on genetically modified corn.

He also said the closure of its facility in Negros Occidental, Bounty Agro, one of the largest poultry integrators in the country, had to source its feed requirement from its Iloilo plant, adding that the move would drive up the company's production cost.