BUTUAN CITY – A 416-hectare corn processing plant and trading center will soon rise in Northern Mindanao.

The structure will be constructed inside the Metro-Iligan Regional Agro-Industrial Center in Linamon town, Lanao del Norte.

The corn processing plant and trading center in Lanao del Norte is the first of its kind which could help local farmers raise their productivity, allow them to maintain quality produce so it can command better prices while placing into the minimum its production cost incurred.

The project will also add to the employment and income generation of the locality, the provincial information office in Lanao del Norte said.

When completed, the facility will have a modern corn post-harvest processing center, conveyor, receiving and sorting section, dryer bin, corn-sheller and dryer and bagging bin.

It was learned that the project will start before the end of the year or first quarter of 2010.

Included in the project is to make the facility upgraded and converted in due time into a dry-mill production facility which will produce ethanol and other by-products and eventually have a bio-ethanol plant.

Bio-ethanol is found to be a viable source for feed stock, the provinces’ information office also said.

“Socio-economic progress is expected to be felt in my entire province and nearby areas when this building will rise,” said Lanao del Gov. Mohamad Khalid Q. Dimaporo.

Meanwhile, business analysts said the implementation of this big corn processing plant and trading center in that province will also create more job opportunities from production to marketing and with its multiplier effects, where peace and order stability will be achieved.

They said that this will also add more business opportunities in the region’s continuing economic prosperity.