- CHERYL G. CRUZ
The Bacolod-based agribusiness company behind the establishment of the Negros Farmers Weekend Market has partnered with firms from Thailand and China “for innovative technologies and precision agriculture” to enhance sugar production.
Ruby Tania Cruz, chief executive officer of DC (Donato Cruz) Trading Corporation, said Friday that they are the sole distributor of Moddus, a new product of Syngenta of China, and the drones of HiveGround, a robotics company based in Thailand.
Moddus was given a conditional registration as foliar absorbed plant growth regulator for sugarcane ripening by the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority of the Department of Agriculture just this May, following an appeal made by Negros sugar farmers in April amid the soaring prices of fertilizer and other farm inputs, and the declining yield, Bart Biagtan, Syngenta marketing head for crop protection, said in a press conference Friday.
Moddus “blocks cell elongation, thickens and increases stem strength, increases the concentration of sugar as well as the stress resistance to drought, cold and heat,” which will result in higher yield, Syngenta said.
Cruz, meanwhile, partnered with HiveGround for its drones for crop spraying and precision agriculture.
HiveGround CEO Mahisorn Wongphati, who flew in from Thailand for the opening of the showroom of Dragon Drone, a new DC Trading Corporation enterprise across the Gardenville Subdivision entrance in Barangay Tangub, Bacolod Oct. 7, said the drones do away with the “dirty, dangerous, and degrading” process of crop spraying.
Cruz said their tri-partnership aims to help the farming industry, particularly the sugar stakeholders, by lowering production cost and increasing yield./CGC
