FOR 56-year-old Antonio Mingo, cultivating yellow corn offers a chance to earn from a crop Cebu hopes will help make the province the country’s “corn capital.” But the opportunity comes with risks he largely carries on his own.
In 2025, Mingo left his work as a sugarcane laborer. In May 2026, the Medellin Municipal Agriculture Office allowed him to till a one-hectare former sugarcane field in Barangay Camputatan Sur as part of the province’s corn expansion.
The arrangement was simple: Mingo would clear and cultivate the land while the government provided hybrid yellow corn seeds. But he pays for fertilizer, pesticides and labor, while the land itself is not his.
“Wala, amoa ra (No, it’s all ours),” Mingo said when asked if he shares production expenses with the landowner.
“Amoa lang ang abot basta malimpyo lang ang yuta (We’re only responsible for clearing the land),” he added.
Mingo expects about P40,000 from his first harvest in September. Fertilizer and pesticides alone could cost more than P20,000, excluding labor. Workers are paid P200 a day for planting, fertilizing and harvesting.
After expenses, little may be left for his family. “Para bugas na lang ang mahabilin (Only money for rice would be left),” he said.
To reduce costs and risks, Mingo sells young corn, or anagon, which can be harvested in about 65 days. Buyers from Bogo City harvest and transport it, leaving him only to weigh the produce.
“With anagon (young corn), we spend less than we do on palagas (mature corn). When we call the buyers, they come to harvest it themselves, and I only have to weigh the produce,” he said.
Yellow corn shift
The Provincial Government sees yellow corn as a way to put idle and former sugarcane lands back into production following the closure of Bogo-Medellin Milling Company Inc. (Bomedco) in Medellin.
“Nagsugod gyud ang idea, particularly didtu sa northern Cebu tungod sa pagkasira sa atong sugar milling company nga Bogo-Medellin Milling Company Inc. (Bomedco) nga naa sa Medellin,” Saragena said.
The push began in 2022 under then-governor Gwendolyn Garcia through the Sugbo Maisan program, which provided seeds, fertilizers, technical assistance and farm facilities.
A P5.9-million corn-drying facility in Medellin, equipped with four 15-ton dryers, was reported to be under construction in March 2025. However, Saragena told VoxPop Cebu on Aug. 20, 2026, that the planned dryer under Sugbo Maisan had yet to be established.
At the 19th Philippine National Corn Congress on Aug. 13, Baricuatro said the goal was not simply to expand cornfields but to improve farmers’ livelihoods.
“My dream is not simply to see more cornfields in Cebu,” she said. “I want those cornfields to mean more income for our farmers, more opportunities for their families, and greater food security for every Cebuano.”
Big demand, small supply
Cebu’s corn production is growing, but yellow corn remains a small share of the province’s output.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, total corn production rose 45.21 percent to 58,640 metric tons in 2025 from 40,384 metric tons in 2024.
Yellow corn more than doubled to 3,496 metric tons, accounting for about 6 percent of total output.
The province has a large market for yellow corn, a key ingredient in animal feed for its poultry and hog-raising industries. In 2024, 21 institutional buyers required about 550,000 metric tons, according to Saragena.
Cebu’s 2025 yellow corn production was equivalent to less than 1 percent of that reported demand.
But for farmers, production risks remain.
Mingo said strong winds and heavy rains damaged part of his field. His P6,000 crop-insurance payout from the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. covered less than a third of his more than P20,000 in input costs. The provincial government paid the insurance premiums.
“Gamay ra kaayo (It was very little),” he said. “Dako og alkansi (I suffered a big loss).”
In a June 9, 2026 VoxPop Cebu report, Fourth District Rep. Sun Shimura said Department of Public Works and Highways 7 officials had revived plans for the airport and were seeking funding for a feasibility study.
“Ang amo lang unta, kung pwede lang unta nga naa mi yuta sama ani, magtanom mi nga dili na makuha ug wala nay mubawi (All we hope for is to have land like this where we can plant without worrying that it will be taken away or reclaimed),” he said.
Corn is no easy replacement
Northern Cebu’s sugar industry is also struggling with rising input costs, labor shortages, lower sugar extraction and the closure of Bomedco.
Alfonso “Al” Lim, president of the Bogo-Medellin Sugarcane Planters Association Inc., said the region produces only 1.2 to 1.3 bags of sugar per ton of cane, compared with 1.6 to 1.8 bags in Negros, while planters now transport their cane to Sagay, Negros Occidental.
“The price of one bag of sugar is almost the same as one bag of fertilizer,” Lim said.
Yellow corn has not proven a reliable alternative. Lim lost a 10-hectare corn crop to a storm, while Carl Diaz and Sherwin Nolasco stopped planting after crop losses and high input costs.
“Corn is not a resilient crop,” Lim said. “With corn, a bad storm means a 100 percent goodbye to your money.”
Food security question
Yellow corn is mainly used as feed for hogs and poultry, while white corn is traditionally eaten by households.
Asked whether expanding yellow corn production would contribute to food security, Saragena said the two are “interrelated,” as locally sourced feed could lower costs for livestock and poultry producers. “It’s a loop,” he said.
More than seeds
For Adriel Dave Alvarez, secretary of the Philippine Maize Federation Inc. (PhilMaiz) and its Central Visayas coordinator, shifting from sugarcane to corn is not as simple as replacing one crop with another.
“Unlike corn, napaka-intensive niya compared to sugar… hindi ’yon magic na palitan lang ng crop,” he said.
Farmers, he said, will ultimately choose crops based on whether they can cover their costs and earn sustainable incomes.
“Farming is a decision we make on what will be economically viable for us,” he said.
Alvarez said farmers need more than seeds and government assistance, including reliable inputs, land preparation, drying and storage facilities, markets and crop insurance.
“May land tayo, may demand, may market, pero wala tayong production scale at infrastructure para pagdugtungin ’yan,” he said.
Risk management is another missing link. Farmers invest in inputs and labor while facing weather, crop and price risks, making banks and private investors reluctant to finance agriculture.
“How would the investor jump in if the risk is not managed?” Alvarez said.
The province’s challenge is therefore not only getting farmers to plant but ensuring that corn can be sold, dried, stored and transported at costs that leave farmers with a viable income. Without those links, expanding acreage may often expand exposure to losses.
That gap may determine whether farmers continue with corn.
Mingo is already making that bet.
He has invested his own money and labor in a crop grown on land he does not own, with no guarantee that he will be able to cultivate it next year.
“Og ilang bawion, wala nagyud mi panginabuhi dire (If they take it back, we will have no livelihood here anymore),” he said.