An officer of Ginebra San Miguel, Incorporated yesterday urged farmers in Negros Occidental to use idle lands as cassava planting for alternative source of income.

Redentor Galura, manager of the Agricultural Supply Development of GSMI said their company needs 50,000 tons of cassava annually.

Galura was at the inauguration of the P15-million mechanical dryer at the Bago City Distillery of GSMI yesterday.

Unlike other crops like sugarcane, oil palm and rubber, cassava can grow even in a backyard and is a growing industry, he said. In fact, farmers in some parts of Negros and Guimaras are into cassava planting as the raw materials are made into dried chips, he added.

GSMI is willing to provide assistance and training in proper cassava farming practices and soil conservation to interested farmers, he also said.

Galura said that the cassava dryer machine that they inaugurated will help farmers, especially since it is now the rainy season and the dryer has all-weather drying capability.

The dryer was bought by Agapito Pongos of the Early Seven Marketing Group of Companies for his cassava crops, but it is also open for use by other farmers, he said.

Also present at the inauguration of the dryer machine were executive director Ric Cachuela of the Philippine Center for Post-Harvest Development and Machanization and executive director Julieta Roa of the Philippine Root Crop Research and Training Center *.APN

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