Agriculture Business Week

With good early bookings, all the signs are that there will be another well attended Pig, Poultry & Dairy Focus Asia 2010. This event is now perceived as Asia ’s leading independent technical conference for anyone involved in modern pig, poultry and dairy production and attracts production managers, QA managers, nutritionists and veterinarians. The event will be held on 1 – 3rd March 2010 at the prestigious Imperial Queen’s Park Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand.

The event has 90 international experts as its speakers and topical issues such as the use of enzymes and probiotics to improve feed utilisation and animal performance, the effect of health on meat or milk quality, controlling the impact of mycotoxins, optimising reproductive performance and the value of organic minerals are among the topics on the programme.

In addition, the pig programme will consider topics such as intestinal integrity, semen analysis, weaning capacity and boar taint control and the poultry programme will also consider in ovo vaccination, evaluation of feed trials, single stage incubation and salmonella control. The Dairy programme will also focus on calf pneumonia, heat stress, reproductive health management and coccidiosis.

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An hour before day break, more than a hundred milkmen are already busy milking hundreds of native carabaos in the lakeshore town of Lumban, famous for its intricately woven barong tagalog. Because of its wide green fields near the “dagat” as locals call Laguna de Bay, Lumban is the grazing area for carabaos owned by the makers of kesong puti in the adjoining town of Sta. Cruz, the bustling capital of Laguna.

By eight o’clock in the morning, the collected milk in sealed bumbong, a 15liter capacity stainless steel container, attached on both sides of a motorcycle, are rushed to Bagumbayan, one of the 26 barangays of Sta. Cruz where a hundred households are engaged in this much sought-after indigenous delicacy.

One of the biggest kesong puti makers is 55-year-old Gil del Mundo, whose two maggagatas (milkmen) deliver a total of 40 liters every morning to his home cum cottage,cheese factory beside the highway leading to the poblacion. Milk is strained in cheesecloth, afterwhich it is poured into a stainless steel casserole and heated for 15 seconds. After it has been cooled in a basin of cold water, a cup of rennet and a half-cup of salt are mixed in 15 liters of milk. The white concoction is strained again to remove whey (water) for 15 minutes.

“It is then put in a big plastic pail where it is mixed thoroughly by hand until it curdled,” explains Del Mundo, who, together with wife Virgie, owns 50 head of carabao (15 of whom are males). “The curds are then poured in rows of halabing (round moulds made of banana leaves) and then let stand for about ten minutes,” adds the fourth-generation kesong puti maker in Bagumbayan, a big barangay with more than 12,000 inhabitants located two kilometers west of the Sta. Cruz town center. “Two halabing are wrapped in a piece of banana leaf, tied with straw and encased in a talulo, a squared piece of dried sheath of beetle nut tree (bunga) that holds a basta (small bundle) together.”

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What can good packaging do for your product?

To the microentrepreneurs of Samar provinces, good packaging not only enhances the market value of their product. It also gives them the opportunity to become competitive as it results in higher product quality and longer shelflife.

This was proven by Norma Dela Cruz who owns and manages NC Dela Cruz Home of Pili Delicacies in Brgy. Kinabranan, Allen, Northern Samar. She is among the processors of delicacies made from pili nut which is claimed to be abundant in Eastern Visayas.

When Secretary Estrella F. Alabastro and regional officials of the Department of Science and Technology visited her production area recently, she proudly showed her products, which were improved through the adoption of mechanized processing equipment and appropriate packaging materials and labeling under the Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program (SETUP).

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One piece of good news we just learned is that the major breeders of Boer goats have rolled back their prices on purebred bucks in an attempt to encourage the use of purebred animals to improve the body size and meat quality of the existing native and other imported breeds in the country.

Rene Almeda of Alaminos Goat Farm in Alaminos, Laguna, had just informed us while we were preparing this page that he had decided to reduce the price of purebred Boer bucks. What used to sell for P24,000 to P30,000 per head has been reduced by half, from P12,000 to P15,000 per head. And the other good news, he said, is that another competitor has followed suit.

He said, however, that the purebred female Boer goats are still priced at P24,000 per head.

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Here’s an in-depth look at the world of organic farming for both livestock and organic.

Organic agriculture in the Philippines is still in its embryonic phase when compared to agricultural sectors of other countries. However, organic agriculture in the country is fast gaining ground. Though organic agricultural production is limited, it is steadily growing, between 10-20% annually. The organic market in the country is currently considered as a “niche market.” But producers need not be discouraged. Top marketing experts have predicted that in the coming trends, it is in the niche markets where profits lie. Organic products are also penetrating the major supermarkets with a price premium ranging from 20% to 50% over non-organic products.

The President of Philippines approved a document on the “Promotion and Development of Organic Agriculture in the Philippines” in 2005-Executive Order 481. This recognizes the marketability potential of organic agriculture in the country and also provides government support to the development of the organic sector of agriculture. EO 481 also hopes to establish an organic agriculture program that will adopt and develop organic product markets, the education of more farmers, the extension of assistance to individuals and groups who are practicing and promoting these methods, and documentation and evaluation of the programs.

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Here’s an in-depth look at the world of swine raising and the potential business you can get out of it.

Mastitis-metritis-agalactia, syndrome or MMA syndrome, also known as post-partum dysgalactia, is commonly caused by nonspecific or unknown sources. Mastitis and agalactia is the absence or lack of milk in sows.

MMA syndrome may be caused by infection or stress from excitement or difficulty in farrowing. This condition may also be caused by digestive difficulty or by environmental factors.

Metritis is referred as the nonspecific inflammation of the uterus and is associated with abortion, difficult delivery, or retained placenta.

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Care and Health Practices

Common Diseases and Parasites

Hog Cholera or Swine Fever

Pigs gets contaminated through direct contact or by eating uncooked slops or kitchen scraps containing the virus

Signs

• Fever, loss of appetite
• Increased thirst, chills and sometimes vomiting
• Constipation, later followed by diarrhea
• Inflammation of the eye (conjunctivitis) thick discharges causing eyelids to stick together
• Reddish, purple discoloration of skin at ears, abdomen, inner thighs or tai
• Death ensues 4-7 days after onset of signs
• Prolonged duration of illness (chronic form) terminates in pneumonia or hemorrhagic enteritis, or both

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Hog raising is a very popular enterprise in the Philippines such that there is a proliferation of backyard producers, which dominates the swine industry and a healthy viable commercial sector.

Despite the crises facing the swine industry, still many people are venturing in this enterprise. This manual hopes to bring appropriate technology to the interested farmers and would-be swine producers in order that they may realize profitable production and improve their quality of life.

Kinds of Swine

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UNAHCO (Univet Nutrition & Animal Healthcare Company), one of the country’s leading poultry and livestock feeds supplier, led by its General Manager Ricardo Alba, recently signed with Foundation for Resource Linkage and Development (FRLD) President Antonio Roces for their participation to this year’s biggest integrated international trade show on agribusiness, food and aquaculture, Agrilink, Foodlink, and Aqualink.

“This year will be the largest assembly of the world’s latest technologies, products, services and systems on agribusiness,” continued FRLD president Antonio V. Roces.

Through seminars, live animal and plant displays and other special activities, Agrilink aims to tap Filipino markets and enhance sustainable local food production and overall agricultural growth. For its part, UNAHCO is launching a couple of innovative products that will help both commercial and backyard raisers.

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“The Philippines is importing 99 percent of its milk requirements as it produces only one percent of the total.”

Thus said owner Rene Almeda of the Alaminos Goat Farm (AGF) to illustrate the magnitude of the local market that his dairy products and those of other goat milk producers can supply.

AGF, according to Almeda, is stepping up its marketing offensive by showcasing an extended line of dairy products at the forthcoming Agrilink, Foodlink and Aqualink 2009, which is slated at the World Trade Center Metro Manila on October 8 to 10.

AGF is the maker of Milk Star, the pioneering fresh goat’s milk brand to be commercially produced and distributed at SM and Robinson’s supermarkets across Metro Manila.

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Manila, Philippines – Long enslaved to the plow, the sturdy carabao has been freed from its yoke by advances in technology.

The two-wheeled hand tractor, known among farmers as “kuliglig,” has taken over its job.

Thanks to farm mechanization and the dollar remittances that gave farming families the means to buy the hand tractor, the carabao has lost its traditional job.

Like the carriage-pulling horse in the West made irrelevant by the automobile, the carabao has been replaced by the more efficient machine that can plow one hectare in one day, a job that used to take five carabaos and five farmers to accomplish.

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Antimicrobial agents, or a group of drugs like antibiotics, antifungals, antiprotozoals, and antivirals, are potent weapons’ against pathogenic microorganisms in veterinary and human medicine, the long term use of animal feed supplemented with low or “sub-therapeutic” doses of antimicrobials has come under the greatest scrutiny.

The main concern is focused on the potential emergence of’ antimicrobial resistance. Scientists have determined that the potential for antibiotic resistance to occur in food borne bacteria exists, but using science-based risk analysis, assess the human medical consequence as low.

It is thought that the mounting problem on human infections are difficult to treat due to antimicrobial resistance rooted in antimicrobial overuse and inappropriate use of antibiotics, with antimicrobial resistance in food borne bacteria being only a smaller contributor.

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In the banana producing areas in Mindanao, the growers have a problem with their so-called “rejects” which are either too small or too big for the export market.

One big plantation alone may have 15 tons of rejects every day. There are some businessmen who buy the rejects dirt cheap (P500 per truckload) but they can buy just a small fraction.

One company that is taking advantage of the availability of cheap off-size bananas is Perfect Milling, a feedmill in Tagum City, Davao del Norte, managed by Aerol Conde. Thanks to the off-size bananas, Aerol can produce high quality feeds at a lower price than the competition. He said that his feeds (for swine and poultry) are at least P40 per bag cheaper than the leading brand in the market.

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Alltech’s new technology uses DNA and nutrigenomics to pinpoint an animal’s needs.

At first glance, the new gene chip developed by Alltech, looks like your ordinary memory card. But more than storing thousand bits of information, this small chip uses DNA and nutrigenomics to pinpoint an animal’s needs. As what was explained to us, it would take only one drop of a cow’s blood or saliva to reveal a lot of information on a cow’s potential to produce milk or meat.

In the recently concluded 22nd AsiaPacific Lecture Tour, Alltech’s founder and President Dr. Pearse Lyons sat down with members of the press and excitedly told about what this new technology can do. Dr. Lyons received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University College Dublin, Ireland. After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Birmingham in the UK, he worked in the alcohol industry in Ireland, the UK and the USA . He founded Alltech in 1980, and today the company is a leading animal health company with group sales approaching $500 million.

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