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Former Electrician Becomes A Top Yielder

From 1983 TO 1989, Engracio Martin of Brgy. Pag-asa, Rizal, Nueva Ecija worked in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia as an electrician. Even if his initial salary was not much, $380 a month with food allowance in the first three years, it even went down to $320 in the next three years.

Realizing that his employer only wanted to take advantage of the unemployment rate in the Philippines by offering lower salary, he finally decided to go home even if he did not have any definite plan for the future. He was certain that he would be able to manage his financial situation in no time at all. For one thing, he had saved some money from his meager salary and second, since he has a college degree in agriculture from the Sabani State Agricultural College in Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija, he could venture into farming.

When he went home, he bought a tricycle and used it as a public conveyance vehicle. It did not take long before someone mortgaged a hectare of rice land to him for P30,000 and that was the start of his farming. Three years later, an additional 7,000 sq. m. was mortgaged to him again. He drove his tricycle in the mornings and worked in the farm in the afternoons so he would be able to provide well for his family.

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Posted on November 20th, 2008 under Entrepreneurs, Rice. Tags: , , , . Comments: None

Michael Melendrez : “The first four years were the hardest”

A fresh graduate learned to run a farm and manage his own staff while exercising his passion.

When Michael Melendrez, manager and proprietor of Melendrez Farms finished his degree in Agriculture from UPLB, his father quickly convinced him to manage the farm that their family has been inherited with. “It was something that basically fell on my lap,” said Melendrez.

It was essentially an idle farm that neither two of Michael’s other siblings didn’t perceive to be that viable since their family, had always graduated with degrees in medicine. But since Michael knew the basics of soil improvement, his father’s encouragement was easy to receive.

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Posted on November 13th, 2008 under Entrepreneurs. Tags: , . Comments: None

There’s Big Money in Intercropping

Even at 69, Ernesto Romero of Pinagpanaan, Talavera, Nueva Ecija, a UP Los Banos graduate who never worked in either government offices or private companies, continues to look for more income from high-value crops. His new discovery is green papaya, and he uses the Sinta variety and Taiit-an sili, aruy-uy, and tomato as intercrops.

He said it is a lot better to market green papaya than ripe papaya fruits and claimed that with green fruits, he has no problems on rejects and fruitflies. In contrast, many ripe fruits are rejected because of abnormal shape and size. Even if the price of ripe papaya is higher than the green ones, his sale from green papaya is still much more.

He calculated that he can easily get a gross income of P1.5 million from a hectare in 1.5 years. That’s because he has 1,000 plants per hectare and the fruits of each plant in 1.5 years would be worth P1,500.

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Posted on November 4th, 2008 under Entrepreneurs. Tags: . Comments: None

Seed Growing Is A Lucrative Business

Seed growing is a laborious business. The good thing about it is that the hard work is compensated by the big income one can derive from it.

Five accredited seed growers in Nueva Ecija know this best because if not for their profits from seed growing, they wouldn’t be able to afford a well-furnished house, jeeps, other ventures, and, most of all, sending their children to school.

One of them is Patricia Molina, 48, of the Science City of Munoz, Nueva Ecija. She started working on her accreditation in 2000. And since she is a member of Community Rice Farming (CORFARMING), an organization of seed growers in Nueva Ecija, she has attended many seminars on seed growing and these eventually paved the way for her accreditation.
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Posted on October 14th, 2008 under Entrepreneurs. Tags: . Comments: None

Ex-tuba Gatherer Makes Big in Cornmilling and Farming

Despite the lack of education, a former tuba gatherer in Misamis Oriental and his wife have made it big in cornmilling and in corn farming.

From 1958 to 1967, 66-year-old Ponciano “Cian” Nob worked as a tuba gatherer and earned P2 for every can of tuba he gathered. He usually gathered two cans of tuba a day and, hence, earned P4 a day or a total of P120 a month. Although it was not big, his income enabled him to provide the basic needs of a growing family.

Sensing that tuba gathering would not be able to provide well for his children, Cian put up a sari-sari store along the highway in El Salvador with an initial capital of P300 in 1967. While his wife, Hipolita, attended to the store, he later engaged in hog and cattle buying. He went around the neighboring towns like Naawan, Manticao and Lugait and brought the animals to Cagayan de Oro City using a service jeep.
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Posted on October 13th, 2008 under Corn/Maize, Entrepreneurs, Other Crops. Tags: , . Comments: None

Record-Keeping Is Very Important

There are two farm entrepreneurs we met recently whom we admire immensely. They are Jesus D. Lansang of Sta. Rita, Pampanga, and Benito Magaling of Lipa City.

They have a common denominator. Both of them keep complete records of their expenses and incomes in their farming operations.

By doing so, they readily know whether they are making any money or not. Magaling, who grows finger pepper and ampalaya, for instance, knows how much he had spent growing his finger peppers up to the time he started harvesting. He had spent some P130,000 on his two hectares before the first fruits were harvested. He also knows which operation required the biggest expense - which happens to be weeding.
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Posted on October 13th, 2008 under Entrepreneurs. Tags: . Comments: None

Finding Simple Joy and Therapy in the Darag Native Chicken

Such is the most appropriate description of a man, Johnny Tagamolila of Bacolod City who has become an avid raiser of the Darag, a strain of native chicken indegenous to Western Visayas. The farmer gentleman in his seventies is a retired bank manager but is still very much active in the business of money lending. But apart from this business, the Tagamolila family also owns 15 hectares(ha) of sugarland and about 3 ha of bangus fishpond located in Himamalayan, Negros Occidental. A successful family man, all his sons are already professionals, two medical doctors and one from the academe. His lovely wife takes pride in caring for him, the household and the family business.

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Posted on October 12th, 2008 under Entrepreneurs, Poultry. Tags: , . Comments: None

Seed Grower : Ex-MNLF Combatants Turn to Farming

For 24 years, many members of the Pagalongan Seed Growers Multipurpose Cooperative in Pagalongan, Ditsaan Ramaen, Lanao del Sur were die-hard combatants of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) until they surrendered to the military in 1996 and joined the national effort of producing food for a burgeoning population.

Taha B. Cabugatan, who carries the ancestral title Sultan Diamla of Pagalongan, was the commander of 75 diehard combatants who were always on the run for 20 years. This 57-year-old leader recalls that most of the time, they were hiding in the mountains living on donations from farmers. They were always on the go as they continuously received mission orders from higher ranking officials.
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Posted on October 8th, 2008 under Entrepreneurs. Tags: , . Comments: None

Batch-type Coffee Roaster For Small-scale Coffee Business

Filipinos love to drink coffee. Drinking coffee is a favorite pastime and an engaging social activity for many of us. This explains why nowadays various coffee shops are sprouting in almost every corner of the metro, the most evident indication that the coffee shop industry is a thriving business.

Our love for coffee was basically brought about by the colonization of the country by the Spaniards more than two centuries ago when they turned our highlands into coffee plantations. They loved the perfect temperature and humidity plus the wet and dry tropical climate that made the cultivation of coffee well suited in the Philippines.

Growing coffee became such a profitable venture that for a while, the Philippines was one of the leading coffee-producing nations during the 19th century. But due to the coffee rust disease, such reputation was cut short. It was during this time that the Latin American countries battled it out and dominated the global coffee market.
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Posted on October 7th, 2008 under Coffee, Entrepreneurs. Tags: , , . Comments: None

Gil Igot: A Trendsetter in the Productivity and Quality Standard of Rubber

In the Philippines, there is inadequate government investment in research, development and extension, and support to production system in many hig-value fruits and plantation crops. This is why Filipino farmers are envious of the farmers are envious of the farmers in neighboring countries for they receive enough support from their respective governments. Hence, they are more productive and globally competitive.

On the other hand, the limited technologies and production support services the Filipino farmers receive make them less competitive in the world market due to lower yields, high cost of production, and inadequate product quality.

For sources of technologies and innovations in fruits and plantation crops, many Filipino farmers tap research agencies and progressive farmers in neighboring countries rather than from research institutions in the Philippines. For instance, new technologies in the production and processing of fruits like durian, pummelo, longkong, mangosteen, longan, lychee, and others, are sourced from Thailand, while advanced technologies in the production of oil palm, rubber, cacao and many other tree crops, are sourced from Malaysia.

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Posted on October 4th, 2008 under Entrepreneurs. Tags: . Comments: None

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