Agriculture Business Week

The Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) works in sync with the UN Millennium Development Goals of reducing poverty and hunger. It promotes new rice technologies that boost farmers’ rice yields, reduce production costs, and lessen household expenses on food.

Not that PhilRice doesn’t recognize the need for bigger investments in agriculture, but rice production remains the fundamental instrument for food sustainability and the center of the government’s development agenda.

Increased rice production, therefore, blazes the pathway out of poverty and hunger through R&D, a dynamic and aggressive extension system of connecting with farmers, and location-specific technologies that will help farmers and other stakeholders out of their economic “prison cell”. In the long run, such move would even bring about gainful livelihoods in the countryside.

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Posted on July 31st, 2008 under Rice. Tags: Rice. Comments: None

As the doors of the World Trade Center opened to the visitors and participants of the 14th Agrilink, the International Agri-business Exhibition and Seminars, one can’t help but go back in time to 1993. We dream of unity for agriculture.

We are all for unity of agriculture. Different folks have different strokes. In our diversity and ambition, our stakeholders seem up to an impossible dream. But many barriers have been broken. We are getting closer to unity now.

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Posted on July 31st, 2008 under SPOTlight. Tags: ACEF, Agrilink. Comments: None

A quick look at this endangered animal is enough to convince us that even in this age of highly mechanized farming, the carabao still has a lot to offer in terms of business opportunities.

The Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has listed tamaraw under Appendix I, which means that “the trade of species of subspecies” of the animal is “strictly prohibited” except for educational, scientific or research and study purposes.

After the tamaraw, what Philippine animal is most likely to make it to the CITES list? The carabao, that’s what The Filipino’s beast of burden, forced out from the farm by mechanized farming, is now being pushed to extinction.

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Posted on July 31st, 2008 under Livestock. Tags: Carabao. Comments: None

In a recent talk with agri-practioners from the University of the Philippines, Los Banos (UPLB), I was told of their disappointment over the seemingly wholesale invasion of agricultural products in the local market from China. This was coupled with the government plan to open a million hectares of agri-land for Chinese businessmen, despite of the existence or availability of local agri-talents recognized and hired by foreign governments and organizations.

To a large extent, I share their concern. UPLB enjoyed high international recognition as an educational institution producing top caliber agri-people. But the inability of the Philippines to elevate its agricultural productivity equal if not better than nearby countries somehow puts a dent in its image. Somewhere, somehow, the agriculture scenario seems not equal to the recognition anymore.

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Posted on July 31st, 2008 under Coffee, Corn/Maize, Other Crops, Rice. Tags: Coffee, Corn, Rice, Sugar. Comments: None

The man behind the famous Tahong Chips, ATBP-talks about his humble beginnings and how business mistakes helped him survive the tough market competition.

The tahong is one of the native delicacies of the Philippines. Filipinos love to eat it-either served baked or as tahong soup. Who  would have thought that someone could make a business out of such a unique and often overlooked shellfish? There are now many goods made from tahong and other aquamarine products that are being made popular in the Philippine market. Among those products, is the Tahong Chips. Let’s take a glimpse on how this distinct product turned around the life of one of the rising micro-entrepreneurs today.

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Posted on July 31st, 2008 under Entrepreneurs. Tags: Entrepreneurs, Mussel. Comments: None

Called mekong kanduli and kanduhito in Filipino, the rising demand in the international market for this family of catfish has started to create ripples in the local agricultural world.

It started rather innocently. Early this year, top managers of Vitarich Corporation went to Vietnam and came across thisfreshwater fish called by many names: Siamese shark, sutchi catfish, swai, white or striped catfish. Scientifically called Pangasius hypopthalamus, these slender, elongated silverish to bluish-bodied fishes that can grow at 4ft in length and can weigh up to a maximum of 44 kg have been making waves in Vietnam because they are processed into fillets and are exported to Russia, Poland, Spain, USA, Netherlands, China, etc.

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Posted on July 30th, 2008 under Aquaculture. Tags: Pangasius. Comments: None

Tunnel ventilation has been used primarily by Southern poultry farmers in the US to reduce bird heat stress during hot summer days. In the ’80s it was introduced and employed in US Midwestern livestock production facilities and in the past 15 years, the practice has grown popularity for both Poultry & Swine Industries here in Asia. While the benefits and limitations of such systems tinder different weather conditions remain to be fully evaluated, a basic comprehension of how the systems works is helpful.

Tunnel ventilation
The structural layout of tunnel ventilated buildings is very simple. Compared to conventional cross-ventilation where exhaust fans are mounted in side walls, the exhaust fans in tunnel ventilation are placed at one end of the building, and air is brought in from the opposite end of the building. (see figure i). Consequently, air travels in a tunnel ventilation system through a much smaller cross-sectional area of the building, and ideally the building should have a low ceiling, narrow width but long enough, ( length of the bldg. should not be < 6x the width, or not > 10x the width ) that should provide a tunnel like effect when passing air from the front to the rear, and produces a much higher air velocity above animal level. From experience We have verified that air velocity is practically nil or zero from the floor up to the animal’s height.

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Posted on July 30th, 2008 under Livestock, Technology. Tags: Chicken, Pigs/Hogs, Ventilation. Comments: None

Here’s a yummier way to make your own breakfast hotdogs.

Sausage is one of the oldest forms of processed food, and is also called by names: frankfurters, frank, weenie, wienie, wiener, dog, and red hot. A cooked sausage that consists of a combination of beef and pork or all beef, which is cured, smoked, and cooked. Seasoning may include coriander, garlic, ground mustard, nutmeg, salt, sugar, and white pepper. They are fully cooked but are usually served hot. Sizes range from big dinner frankfurters to tiny cocktail size.

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Posted on July 30th, 2008 under Income Booster. Tags: Hotdog, Recipes, Sausage. Comments: 1

A new perspective on genetically modified rice answers some controversial questions.

It could feed the hungry world, bring around vitamin and mineral deficiency, and cease crop failure. Altogether, these promises of the genetically modified (GM) rice still couldn’t lurch some non-government organizations.

Scientists at the Philippine Rice Research Institute have embarked on a seven-year (2004-2011) project to develop golden grain wonder called “3-in-1 rice.” Aside from being resistant to Tungro Rice Disease and Bacterial Leaf Blight, one such crop is also fortified with Vitamin A, iron and zinc.

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Posted on July 30th, 2008 under Rice. Tags: Rice. Comments: None