Agriculture Business Week

Our Friend Toto Barcelona of Harbest Agribusiness has a bright idea. He said that if Philippine cities have sister-cities in other countries, why not sisterhood between farmer groups, from the Philippines and other countries? He has particularly in mind a sisterhood (or brotherhood?) of groups interested in agriculture from the Philippines and Taiwan.

The idea all started recently when Toto guided a group of experts from the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) in going around to observe local developments in agriculture. Toto has close affinity with Taiwanese matters so it is but natural that he always thinks of things that will further enhance beneficial relationships between citizens of the two countries. First, he stayed for many years in Taiwan doing business. He is now distributing in the Philippines hybrid seeds from Taiwan’s leading seed company. And most of all, he is married to a beautiful Taiwanese.

Fostering a closer relationship between farming groups will benefit both the Filipinos and Taiwanese. Toto rightly observes that Filipino farmers are still mainly into rice, corn, vegetables and mango production. Larger farms are into sugarcane, coffee, citrus and coconut while big corporate farnis are producing bananas, pineapple and oil palm. He notes that although efforts by the government and private initiatives are helping to improve farmers’ income, we are still far from the productivity of our Taiwanese counterparts.

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For over nine years in the food processing business, Crispin Muyrong Jr and his wife Ma. Luz, owners of Sunlight Foods Corporation in Marikina City, have considered ubi as their bread and butter This rootcrop, which is valued for its purple-colored tuber, is a much sought-after ingredient in cakes, pastries, halo-halo, ice cream and other delicacies which make up a big chunk of the local food industry.

Crispin, a mechanical engineer, and Ma. Luz, a food technologist, have seen the big potential of ubi in food processing as they learned that fruit processing makes up 35 percent of the food processing pie followed by bakery products at 25 percent. So, in 2000 they decided to quit their respective jobs and focused on making products that the bakery sector needs.

Crispin noticed that there was an abundant supply of ubi in his home province of La Union, so he took advantage of this and processed the tubers into puree using the processing equipment he himself designed. Besides, he thought that he could help ubi growers in the area earn extra income by encouraging them to sell their produce to him.

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Who could have thought that a fishball vendor would later turn into a millionaire?

By following her gut-feel, Desiree “Daisy” Duran, has become one of the most successful vegetable growers of Basuit, San Ildefonso, Bulacan today.

From seeds . . .

While she only finished elementary, it never hindered her determination to learn, to be an entrepreneur, and to succeed. She has proven time and time again that she is no ordinary woman for she knows what she wants and goes out of her way to get it. Before she discovered the benefits of growing vegetables, Daisy sold fishballs and isaw as well as other grocery items to Basuit locals to augment the income of their household.

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The Land Bank of the Philippines(Landbank) recently signed memorandum of agreement with the Departmentof Agrarian Reform, through its Agraran Reform Communities Project 2 DAR-ARCP2) for the implemenation of the Agri-enterprise Credit iand Agrifinance Service (agri-Cash) project.

The project aims to provide finanial services to agri-based enterprises in Agrarian Reform Commmities (ARCs) through selected ountryside financial institutions, ARC cooperatives, Landbank-assisted cooperatives, and other lending conduits.

Through the agri-Cash, Landbank and the DAR intend to release up to P198 million in loans to target ARCP 2 clients from 2009 to 2012. The project likewise aims to mobilize savings and generate share capital totalling P33 million for the three-year period.

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Your kids don’t want to eat vegetables? Serve them veggie-flavored ice cream and malunggay noodles from Ilocos Sur and they might ask for more.

The ice cream comes in many flavors. Malunggay, squash, bell pepper-cheese, pinipig, mungbeans, peanut butter, coffee, and the local candy made from sugarcane called balikutsa are the signature flavors. Seasonal flavors include mango, green mango, kaimito, melon, tamarind, chico, jackfruit, guyabano-pineapple, and papaya-kalamansi.

The elderly will also enjoy the vegetable ice cream as there are therapeutic flavors, too. There’s ampalaya ice cream for diabetes, roasted garlic for hypertension, ginger-honey for headache, apple-guava for vitamin C, and green tea for body cleansing. Artificial sugar splanada is used in the preparation of these flavors.

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A farmer from Davao del Sur maximized his plantation by transforming coconuts into amazing value-added products.

“The amazing thing about the coconut palm is that it provides almost all the necessities of life: food, drink, oil, medicine, fiber, timber, thatch, mats, fuel, and domestic utensils, as well as serving important environmental services such as soil erosion control in coastal regions, wind protection and shade for other crops,” wrote Craig Elevitch, author of various books on tropical agriculture.

Benjamin R. Lao, who owns a farm in barangay Eman in Bansalan, Davao del Sur, is very much aware of the versatility of coconut. So much that he produces several products out of coconuts, including coco sugar and coco syrup. Both don’t only command good prices, there is also a big demand for them in national and international markets.

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Raising goats as an enterprise is very appealing to entrepreneurs – not just in the Philippines, but in other countries as well. It is especially popular among Filipino entrepreneurs because raising goats entail low initial capital investment. The animal also fits the small hold farm conditions, and they proliferate fast.

At present, raising goats as a business is widely practiced by commonly by small farmers or backyard raisers where a farmer raises one to two goats. Commercial-scale goat farming is also steadily increasing as the demand for the product increases. Goats provide livelihood to about 15 million Filipinos across the country today.

Goats as one of the main sources of milk and meat have not been fully maximized in the country. However, consumers are starting to recognize goat’s milk as a product of good value. It is more digestible compared to cow’s milk, yet with a much lower cost. Goats are multi-purpose ruminants, and a study discloses that this animal produces 58.4% milk, 35.6% meat, 4.3% hide, and 1.7% fiber. Goats can provide the answer to improve nutritional requirements of the predominantly rural farm families in the country.

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Rolly Lagaya, the successful poultry farmer from San Jose, Batangas shares with us his “innovative” tale of success.

Arapid change is now sweeping the Philippine poultry industry. The sector—which is predominantly a backyard affair—has now stepped up with nearly all farms operating at a calibre similar to that of commercial operations. Nowadays, rarely you would see small raisers sowing corn grains to feed the chickens roaming around their backyard and housing them in bamboo or wood-made cages. Minute operators now house their birds in modern fabricated domiciles and fed those using calibrated feeders and waterers. The evolution, according to pundits, is caused by tremendous competition in the market as well as the fast-paced and ever changing lifestyle of consumers.

Rolly Lagaya, owner of Lagaya Farms in San Jose, Batangas is happy to be a part of the sector’s revolution. An engineer by profession, he has established his farm together with his parents in 1975 as a mere family business. Started with 500 heads, the farm has now 200,000 birds in tow and producing 175,000 eggs per day. “Our farm’s expansion has been continuous. Whenever there’s a new technology, we always adapt it. We were the first farm in Batangas that has elevated the poultry houses. Unlike other farmers, we are always open to new technologies. We love new discoveries.”

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Blue Fin Fish Farm owner Jason Tamano shares with us his colorful journey as he wades through the uncharted waters of the tilapia business

As a child growing up in Malabon, Jason Ta- mano discovered to his delight that he has this effortless and natural knack for raising fishes. Not only did he find joy in having fishes as pets, he also got curious about other aquatic creatures and their serene life under the sea. “I guess it was my calling,” he tells us. “It got serious that I enrolled in a fisheries course in U.P. in the Visayas.”

Tamano’s studies was cut short in 1993 when on a whim, he just decided to take a leave of absence from the university and tried his luck to make it as an entrepreneur in Mindanao. With less than Php20,000 in his pocket, a few clothes and lots of grit and guts, the adventurous fish lover headed to Dipolog City where lapu-lapu is endemic. Right there and then, he thought of buying and selling the lapu-lapu fingerlings.

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It is hard for me to believe that I am in my old age, yet this is the reality. I had been in government service for 38 years, and I had expected that when I retired, I would be happy travelling or having a brand new car What happened was the opposite.

Four months before I officially retired, I experienced a short of breath. My heartbeat and pulse rate were so low that I was rushed to the hospital. The worse was that I underwent a heart operation so I was forced to retire early.

My operation was successful. The sad thing was that most of my retirement benefit was used to pay my hospital bill and loans. Anyway, what’s more important and I should be thankful for is that I am still alive. And now, I have all the time for farming, which I have been into for years.

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The Bureau of Fisheries any Aquatic Resources in Region 2 (BEAR R02) in Tuguegarao City Cagayan has something new to offer to those who love to eat tilapia. These are the tilapia longanisa and tilapia tocino which are now increasingly gaining favorable response from tilapia Pod lovers in Cagayan.

In fact, tilapia longanisa and tocino were among the promising finds at the Agrilink, Foodlink and Aqualink held last October 8-10 at World Trade Center Metro Manila in Pasay City.

The idea of making longanisa and tocino out of tilapia spawned from the research of Dr. Esterlita Calanoga and Angel Encarnacion of Cagayan State University and BFAR R02, respectively. Their study titled “Value-added products from Tilapia” aimed on finding other uses of this high-value fish and minimize losses as well as standardize the processing method.

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In recent years, more and more people are eating cashew nuts. The reason: health experts and nutritionists considered it as “nature’s vitamin pill.”

In the Philippines, many farmers are reluctant to venture into tree farming because it does not provide them immediate returns, unlike the growing of agricultural crops. But in the long run, tree farming is more profitable since it means more money and conservation. Trees help conserve the land by minimizing excessive soil erosion and run-off. Wood products mean additional income to the farmer. In addition, a farmer doesn’t have to attend his trees all the time once they have grown up.

One tree that can be a good source of income for farmers and simultaneously help the environment is cashew (scientific name: Anacardium occidentale). The forestry department of the University of the Philippines at Los Banos (UPLB) puts it this way: “Planting cashew trees in idle lands may be the best solution to our land conservation problem. As an agricultural crop, cashew trees provide vegetative cover to barren lands and help minimize soil erosion. There is also money in cashew. Its fruit has varied uses and commands a good price in the market.”

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Arthur Yap’s “The Art of Agribusiness” is a beehive of engaging stories about people who surmounted the odds.

Through the years that we’ve been working and mingling with people in agribusiness, entrepreneurship has always been viewed as a seemingly far-fetched, unattainable concept. We’ve always heard people say, “yes we want to be entrepreneurs, but we just don’t have the business knack.” Or “we don’t have the capital” and the oft repeated phrase: “it’s too risky.” And while we listen to these doubtful and fearful voices, we can’t help but wonder: maybe entrepreneurship sounds too esoteric and academic, that’s why it hasn’t gained that much following.

The dictionary defines an entrepreneur as “a person who organizes and manages an enterprise, especially a business usually with considerable initiative and risk.” The operative words are clear: organize, manage, initiative and risk. This means being an entrepreneur is not manna from heaven but is something that someone works on diligently—usually from scratch. And while a business degree or an MBA from reputable schools can definitely help in pursuing a career in entrepreneurship, our experiences tell us that it is not a guarantee for success, as we have seen countless men and women who never went to school but relied on large doses of common sense, street-smart attitude, networking and guts to succeed in their entrepreneurial endeavors.

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An enterprising couple have put up the country’s first commercial Tilanggit processing plant, currently processing 200 kilos of baby tilapia for the local and export markets.

They are Victor and Susan Mendoza who put up Keño Foods last year in Brgy. Malamig, Bustos, Bulacan. The processing plant is a state-of-the-art facility largely financed with a P14-million interest-free loan from the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF), thanks to the assistance of former Agriculture Sec. Arthur C. Yap and the current Agriculture Secretary Bernie Fondevilla.

The building where the fish are prepared before drying is air-conditioned, tiled, and the working tables and sinks are all made of stainless steel. Inside is a holding tank for the live tilapia and a walk-in chiller where the processed tilapia are placed before they are brought to the Multi-Commodity Solar Tunnel Dryer (MCSTD) developed by the Bureau of Postharvest Research and Extension. This is an efficient dryer that uses heat from the sun, drying the fish to seven percent moisture content in seven to eight hours.

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