Agriculture Business Week

The Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) in Iligan City is promoting the sustainable utilization of bamboo as a source of livelihood for the community.

MSU-IIT showcased the various ways to transform the versatile bamboo into a money-making crop at the recent ASEAN Science and Technology Week and National Science and Technology Week held at the World Trade Center-Manila in Pasay City.

According to Ma. Esperanza P. Cruz, head of the MSU-IIT’s Technology Application and Promotion Unit (TAPU), they have been conducting research and development activities on the prototyping, design development and processing of high-quality decorative bamboo products for high-end market. These are carried out through the Bamboo Technology Resource Center (BTRC) which was established in 1999 under the auspices of TAPU.

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Posted on August 7th, 2008 under Forest Trees. Tags: Bamboo. Comments: None

Plant breeders are continually working on improving existing varieties, looking how older varieties could be improved further. Many hybrid vegetables, for instance, may need improvement for one reason or another:

Just like the Banate variety of eggplant which is preferred by consumers, farmers and sellers in Mindanao. This is an old variety which produces lighter Purple fruits than the many varieties usually grown in Luzon. Its fruits are longer and slimmer than the recommended varieties in other places, including the hybrids. The problem with the ordinary Banate is that its yield is very low. One reason given why growers in Mindanao love Banate is that when roasted, the fruit does not shrink and its flesh remains firm.

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Posted on August 7th, 2008 under Vegetables. Tags: Corn, Cucumber, Pepper, Veggies. Comments: None

He is now 77, but he is as hale and hearty as ever He is Angel L. Javellana who used to hold a high executive position in Del Monte Philippines and now enjoying his brand of organic firming in Valencia City in Bukidnon. He calls his place Manupali Natural Farm, a six-hectare property.

Angel, who was born in Iloilo City, is a highly educated professional with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from De La Salle and a master also in chemical engineering practice from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States. In his earlier years he was into teaching at La Salle and for sometime, he engaged in consultancy in the United States. All along, however, he has been interested in, farming. And that’s why, he enjoyed very much his job as field superintendent at Del Monte from 1966 to 1979.
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Posted on August 7th, 2008 under Entrepreneurs, Organic. Tags: Entrepreneurs, Organic. Comments: None

The Baligod family of Kalinga province used their individual expertise to concoct a healthy beverage out of the once lowly and neglected lemongrass.

In the verdant slopes and fields of Kalinga province where the Baligod family grew up, lemongrass (Cymbopogon, a genus of about 55 species of grasses), locally called tanglad, grows in wild abandon. Lilia Baligod Pelayo, and her brothers, Joe, Benny and Ronnie learned at an early age that lemongrass. particularly the East Indian type (Cymbopogon flexuosus) are edible. It has essential oils. Its leaves can be distilled and turned into organic fertilizer, or even made into pouches or specialty paper.
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Posted on August 7th, 2008 under Organic, Plant. Tags: Lemongrass. Comments: 1

A Taiwanese inventor introduces the “do-it-yourself” organic way of planting and harvesting healthy bean sprouts.

Ultimately the best time/length to eat sprouts could be determined by mere experimentation. Experts suggest growing sprout and eating them at different ages/lengths. Numerous methods have been exploited to sprout beans. In Oriental countries beans are soaked for eight hours and then placed in tubs or corkery jars that have sufficient drainage. They are sprinkled with water at room temperature three times a day, where in about four to six days, would then be ready to use. (more…)

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Posted on August 7th, 2008 under Organic, Vegetables. Tags: Beans Sprouts, Organic, Veggies. Comments: None

The following is part of the PCA Memorandum Circular No. 07 addressed to all Deputy Administrators, Regional/Center managers, Provincial Coconut Development Managers, Coconut Officers and all concerned on the implementing guidelines on the treatment of Brontispa-infested coconut trees :

1. Trunk injection of systemic insecticide
1.1 Harvest all nuts including buko leaving only fist-sized nuts ad below in the coconut tree. No coconut tree shall be treated unless this first step is done.
1.2 Mix one(1) sachet of Actara 25 WG(10g) in a gallon of water; (more…)

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Posted on August 7th, 2008 under Other Crops. Tags: Coconut, Disease. Comments: None