A Japanese company is growing buckwheat, popularly known back home as soba, in the southern Philippine province of Lanao del Sur on Mindanao Island with the aim of exporting it to Japan starting later this year.

Takeyoshi Sumikawa, of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Mindanao Inc., said Nissey Delica Corp., a leading soba producer in Japan, tied up with local groups Datu Paglas-Japan Development Initiatives Inc. and Manabilang Services Inc. to grow soba in the hilly, Muslim-dominated municipality of Bumbaran.

The project is also getting support from Unifrutti Philippines, which has a vast banana and pineapple plantation in the same province.