Agriculture Business Week

Like most farmers in Barangay Paralaya in Candaba, Pampanga, Rodolfo Gatbonton believes that melon production was one of the things that made their town famous in the past.

“Farmers in Candaba pioneered in melon growing,” he says. “But too many people producing the same crop caused farmgate prices to fall, making melon production unprofitable. The farmers turned to other crops, with many of them even converting their fields into fishponds.”

Gatbonton, who graduated from the Central Luzon State University in Mufioz, Nueva Ecija in 1974 with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture degree, major in Agronomy, recalls that he and other farmers in Paralaya used to grow melon in more than 100 hectares. “At harvest time, we used to have buyers from as far as Cavite and Batangas here for our melons,” he says. “We considered ourselves the best melon producers in the country then. You can still see the houses that those of us who made big money from melons built at that time.”

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Everytime I visit the Kaohsiung, the prefecture in southern Taiwan, my first impulse is to enjoy the fruits in season. In fact, my father-in-law is always ready with a few pieces, especially with my favorite Taiwan orange – Liu Ding, which is available almost all year round except for the winter months, and lately, their very juicy am, sweet makopa. This last Christmas break was no different.

Taiwan is now well-known the world over for its tasty fruits. Not imported but all locally-grown. My son, Julius, enjoyed the sweet Indian Jujube, juicy Gem Makopa and Carambola offered by Dr. Kan-Shu Chen, director of the Fengshan Tropical Horticultural Experiment Branch, during our recent visit. All these were developed through research and years of field improvement in production management technique and postharvest handling procedures. The Fengshan Tropical Horticultural Experiment Branch is one of;two principal research stations among eleven of the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute (TARI).

HISTORY AND MANDATE
A developed agricultural foundation, an island-wide educational system and the railway system are what the Taiwanese are thankful for to the Japanese colonizers of 50 years. Towards the end of its occupation, the Japanese established the Fengshan Tropical Horticultural Experiment Station in 1940. Initially the improvement of pineapple and vegetable production were its primary mandates. In 1981, the station was reorganized according to the Scientific Technology Development Plan issued by the Executive Yuan (equivalent to our Executive Department). The research sections were restructured into four departments, namely: tropical fruit trees, vegetable crops, plant protection, and management, and utilization department. Since then, it has become an important research center under the TARI.

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One of the most upbeat gentleman farmers we met recently is Rene Florencio, a mechanical engineer who used to manage a well known machinery firm based in Makati. After his retirement, he bought a 20-hectare raw land in Tarlac City which he planted to mango and pummelo.

He is particularly excited about his pummelo because they are so fruitful and with the cooperation of Mother Nature (no strong typhoons, please), the pummelos are going to be sure money makers. He is proud of the fact that his variety is one of the best in the market. But the fruits have to be protected from pests, especially the fruitfly. One very practical way of protecting his fruits from fruitfly damage is by bagging them as soon as they are about the size of a chicken egg.

Rene uses cloth material for bagging. Each bag has a draw string so that it is very easy to install as well as to remove when it is necessary, like when he wants to check the condition of the fruit. A thin cloth material that will not retain rain water during rainy days is used. One bag costs P5 but that is a small expense if one considers the value of the fruit that is not damaged by fruitfly. In the Metro Manila market, good quality pummelo fruits usually sell for P140 a kilo.

Bagging the fruits is just one of several ways of ensuring the good eating quality of the fruit. That’s one reason why he invited Dr. Pablito P. Pamplona to take a look-see of his pummelo trees and give some pointers to his workers. We went with him last Monday, July 5.

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Learn to bake one of the best loved healthy cakes.

We’ve asked local coffee shop owners what are the top five bestselling cakes and always, the classic banana cake would land on the list. Of course we weren’t surprised. Banana cakes are well-loved because they are healthy (as compared with other super sweet cakes), yummy and easy to make. Try this favorite recipe and earn more!

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups shortening
4 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
6 eggs
2 1/2 cups mashed bananas
7 cups sifted cake flour
t tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

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Who wouldn’t want to taste sweet, succulent, and scrumptious strawberries?

Strawberries are so rare and expensive in our country that people regard them as high-class fruits. Hence, people consume fresh strawberries for special occasions. Some even equate the red heart-shaped fruit with romance and affection, eating them during Valentine’s Day and wedding anniversaries.

Other than its rarity and steep price, strawberries are valued for their exquisite taste and aroma. The juicy fresh fruits are sweet yet tart – perfect for desserts, salads and healthy snacks. Meanwhile, its sweet one-of-a-kind aroma inspired scents for perfumes and oils.

Health benefits
Unknown to most people, these delicious fruits are also highly nutritious. Strawberries contain high levels of Vitamin C. In fact, a cup satisfies 140% of our required daily dosage of Vitamin C. It also contains significant amounts of vitamins B2, B5, B6, and K, manganese, iodine, potassium, folic acid, omega 3 fatty acids, magnesium, copper and fiber.

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Although this exotic fruit is banned in most of the world, there is an increasing demand for it in the export market.

Durian, of course,” replied Dr. Hilario Laperia, a Filipino physician who now works in Canada, when asked what is his most favorite fruit. “Nothing beats it. I have tasted lots of exotic fruits but I still go back to my all-time favorite -durian.”

Another physician, who describes herself as a fruit lover, likes to eat all kinds of fruits, tropical or otherwise. But durian is the best, according to her. “My first encounter (with durian) was not very pleasant due to its odor. But once you have tried to taste its soft creamy pulp, you’ll learn to love it. My husband is from Laguna and it took so many prodding before he tasted it. Today, durian is his favorite fruit.”

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Banana and cacao have something in common – they grow best when under shade. Thus, simultaneously growing these crops between coconut trees offer an alternative source of food and income for coconut farmers.

In Quezon Province, Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD’s) Techno Gabay Program supports two concurrent Science and Technology-based Farm (STBF) projects on banana-coconut and cacao-coconut.

A group from PCARRD headed by Dr. Arturo S. Argafiosa together with Mr. Gil Flores of the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) visited the project sites in Quezon on January 19 to monitor the STBFs’ progress.

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It’s not only a natural cancer cell killer, but the various parts of the guyabano tree is also known to cure a lot of ailments.

A miraculous natural cancer cell killer 10,000 times stronger than chemotherapy.” That was how the forwarded e-mail described the fruits of sour sop or graviola (more popularly known here as guyabano or labana).

“What’s more, unlike chemotherapy, the compound extracted from the graviola tree selectively hunts down and kills only cancer cells,” the e-mail said. “It does not harm healthy cells!” In addition, it “effectively targets and kills malignant cells in 12 types of cancer, including colon, breast, prostate, lung and pancreatic cancer.”

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It is a known fact that mango tastes sweet if it is allowed to ripen on the tree. But for commercial purposes, mangoes are induced for simultaneous ripening.

Mango vendors and traders in Davao Region use calcium carbide, which is known as calburo, to ripen mangoes. It is also used with banana, papaya, and other tropical fruits. Due to the moisture content of the fruit, chemical reaction happens, producing moderate heat and acetylene gas inside the fruit, which hasten the ripening process.

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Leaf curl disease of tomato, locally known to farmers as kulot or kulot ti bulong has been a major constraint to tomato production in the Philippines since the 1990s. Tomato plants affected by the disease are usually stunted and are unproductive. The symptoms on the leaves include interveinal yellowing, upward and downward curling and crinkling. Leaflets are also smaller than those of healthy plants. Symptom expression, however, may vary depending on the crop stage at the time of infection, variety, and whitefly population. The disease can be observed on tomato seedlings about two to three weeks after transplanting and depending on the pressure of the whitefly population in the field, disease incidence can increase rapidly and infection can go as high as 100%.

In the Philippines, tomato leaf curl is caused by Tomato leaf curl Philippines virus) To1CPV; formerly known as ToLCV-Ph), a whitefly-transmitted Begomovirus of the family Geminiviridae (ICTVdB Management, 2006). ToLCPV is considered as distinct virus species in the genus Begomovirus based on the relatively low nucleotide sequence identity between the genomic DNA of ToLCPV and other Gemini viruses like Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) (Kon et al., 2002). ToLCPV affected tomato plants, however, show similar symptoms as TYLCV-affected plants. Because of this similarity in symptomatology, most people associate leaf curl symptoms to TYLCV, which is considered as the most serious disease of tomato worldwide. TYCLV has been reported to occur in several countries in Asia but not in the Philippines (CABI 2007).

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Not many noticed the decrease in mango harvests from Central Luzon last summer. Mango growers from Bulacan and Nueva Ecija, however, felt the difference with last season’s harvests falling behind expected yield due to a pest called cecid fly or gall midge.

This fly, known as ‘saksak walis’ or `kurikong’ in Luzon, `buti,’ or `armalite,’ ‘Gloria-gloria,’ or ‘Nora-nora’ in the Visayas and Mindanao, infests mango farms across the country.

The adult mango cecid fly resembles a mosquito and commonly lays its eggs on young mango leaves. The larvae which develop from eggs, mine the leaves producing dark green circular galls or swelling of tissues along the leaf blade. When the adults emerge from these galls, the leaves develop circular spots or holes which are sometimes mistaken as fungal infection. Under heavy infestations, the leaves wrinkle and turn yellow.

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If durian is the “king of fruits,” then mangosteen is the queen. Mangosteen is the queen. Mangosteen is believed to have “cooling” effects that counteract the “intense heat” emitted by durian. The fact that the fruiting season of these two tropical fruits coincide makes these titles particularly apt.

So much has been written about mangosteen. There is a legend about Queen Victoria offering a reward to anyone who could deliver to her the fabled fruit. In his publication, Hortus Veitchii, James Herbert Veitch reported that he visited Java (Indonesia) in 1892 “to eat the mangosteen. It is necessary to eat the fruit grown within three or four degrees of latitude of the equator to realize at all the attractive and curious properties of this fruit.”

In Southeast Asia, where it is endemic, mangosteen is highly esteemed. “In other tropical areas, this fruit is known only in botanical gardens and small experimental orchards,” noted Underexploited Tropical Plants with Promising Economic Value, published by the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS). “Curiously, it is unavailable in what could be its major markets: Central America, South America, Australia, and Africa, where it would be readily accepted if it could be economically produced.”

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Tomatoes can be kept field fresh Pr three weeks without using cold storage, according to the researchers from the Laguna-based Philippine. Horticulture Training and Research Center (PHTRC).

One economical alternative is to use the Evaporative Cooling and Modified Atmospheric Packaging (MAP) Technology which prolongs the storage life of fresh tomatoes under ordinary condition using locally available materials.

Developed by the team of Gloria Masilungan, Dr. Edralina Serrano and Kevin Yap, Evaporative Cooling and MAP Technology utilizes coco coir dust and polyethylene (PE) plastic packaging and a suitable crate or container for storing tomatoes.

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More and more farmers in La Trinidad, Benguet, have embarked on the planting of chilled tissue-cultured strawberry (TCS) plant materials which were proven to produce higher and better quality berries compared to those that the farmers used to grow from runners, mother plant splits or crowns.

Chilled TCS plant materials are now being promoted by the Department of Agriculture (DA-CAR) and the Office of the Municipal Agriculturist (OMAG) of La Trinidad after years of joint trials in the laboratory, nursery and in farmers’ fields to determine the viability of the technology, according to Mrs. Joan Bacbac, DA regional focal person for strawberry projects.

Simultaneous with the conduct of the trials was the set-up of a systematic production and distribution of TCS mother plants by the DA, runner production in the nursery by OMAG, and runner multiplication by farmers for planting and field berry production, reports Bacbac.

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