Agriculture Business Week

The 2007 Aquatic Technology Competition yielded a rich harvest of technologies that could be commercialized. The competition, which is in its third year, is a brainchild of Dr Rafael D. Guerrero III and his colleagues at the Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development. It is being implemented under the auspices of the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Systems.

A team of young engineers garnered the top prize of P150,000 cash for their underwater robot. The robot called Angel One was developed by Roboteknik headed by Michael Poblete, a youthful mechanical engineering graduate of Mapua Institute of Technology. He describes Angel One as an underwater robot with a video camera and propulsion system. Its primary function is to conduct visual inspection of underwater objects and structures.

In aquaculture, the robot can be used to monitor the fish inside the fishpen, their rate of growth using optional scaling lasers, and feed consumption by measuring the amount of falling feed in the bottom of the fishpen. It could be used to spot holes or breaks in the net where high-value fish could escape.

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Posted on October 20th, 2008 under Aquaculture, Technology. Tags: Bangus, Disease, Seaweed, Tilapia. Comments: None

In the Philippines, technology transfer falls significantly on the shoulders of technicians of local government units. They are expected o perform multiple functions. However; due to limited resources and concrete programs within the local government unit, these technicians failed to serve efficiently.

On one hand, there are technicians who are industrious, innovative, and practice what they teach. They are more effective in transferring technologies and effecting changes in their clients or their recommendations are based on experience. They also effectively ink farmers to the support service and even help market farm produce.

One of them is Marlyn Lilagan, an agricultural livestock technician who has spent almost three decades assisting and extending information to farmers Balungao, Pangasinan. A significant part of the success of this fifth class municipality in eastern Pangasinan in, goat raising is attributed to her and to the support of LGU.

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Posted on October 18th, 2008 under Livestock, Technology. Tags: Goat, Technology. Comments: None

Not every technology from better developed countries works well under Philippine conditions. For instance, the 5 meter x 5 meter distance of planting mangoes that was introduced from Israel was adopted in a hurry by many mango growers, including owners of large plantations. Some new growers are also using this technology.

In our travel around the country, we have seen that indeed the technology is not suitable under local conditions because the canopy of our mango varieties is spreading and the trees grow tall. The branches of many trees are already overlapping after only a few years. Experts say that mutual shading of the branches would render them practically useless as these would not flower and produce fruits.

We can only guess that two things will most likely happen. Mango growers who used this technology will have to prune heavily or probably cut down half of their trees to avoid mutual shading of the branches. This would mean that the grower will lose half of his investment in terms of finances and time.
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Posted on October 18th, 2008 under Fruits, Technology. Tags: Mango. Comments: None

The Central Visayas Region has the most number of livestock produced through Artificial Insemination(AI), the technology on depositing sperm usually of purebred or genetically upgraded male animal into the reproductive organ of the female animal.

According to the Bureau of Animal Industry, about 42 percent of the 15,687 AI offspring in the country during the 2006-2007 period were produced in the region. Common breeds used in the Al program were Simbra, Holstein, Brahman and Sahiwal for cattle, and Murrah and Bulgarian for carabao.

However, promoting the Al technology in the region had been not easy, said Rudito Mumar, regional Al coordinator. Most of the raisers initially feared that their female native animals might have difficulty delivering a big fetus. But this belief is unfounded because unborn animal adjusts to the size of the womb, just like what happens in humans.
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Posted on October 15th, 2008 under Technology. Tags: Artificial Insemination. Comments: None

Save as much as P11,000 every day with MACS biomass furnace, an alternative source of energy used in fueling the mechanical dryer that is used in drying grains especially during the rainy season.

Designed by Dr. Manolito C. Bulaong of the Postharvest Engineering Department (PHED) of the Bureau of Postharvest Research and Extension (BPRE) for its Maize Aflatoxin Control System (MACS) project, the biomass furnace is cheaper to use than the diesel burner in heating the mechanical dryer.

Unlike the diesel burner which consumes 20 liters of diesel per hour at 85°C drying air temperature, the furnace utilizes both rice hull and corncobs as fuel. It has boiler tubes with a diameter of 2.5 inches which serve as heat exchanger and this produces a clean, smoke-free hot air. Its drying time ranges from 6 to 8 hours per batch at an initial moisture content ranging from 24 to 31 percent.
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Posted on October 11th, 2008 under Technology. Tags: Biomass, Dryer, Technology. Comments: None

Tabuk City, Kalinga — Problems on wastage and loss in rice postproduction here are solved with the recent turn over of additional six flatbed dryers as part of the 23-unit flatbed dryer grant that the government has allotted for the province.

A component of the Ginintuang Masaganang Am (GMA) Rice program, this project aims to solve the problem on lack of postharvest facilities in the province which contributes much to the tremendous loss and wastage in rice postproduction. This is because farmers here have no other recourse but to dry their harvest along highways, resulting in a high margin of loss, heavy traffic and road accidents.

Early this year, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has earmarked P1 billion for the installation of 1,000 flatbed dryers in the country to avert such practice which is prohibited by law and had cost farmers P30-billion postharvest losses annually.
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Posted on October 10th, 2008 under Rice, Technology. Tags: Dryer, Farmers. Comments: None

Small Farmers and Fisherfolk with problems on overproduction during peak season have nothing to worry about. The Kababaihang Masigla ng Nareva Ecija (KMNE), processor of agricultural and fishery products, is looking for potential suppliers of commodities like tomato, tamarind, camias, guava, mushroom, soy beans, ginger; and small tilapia weighing 30 to 50 grams.

Based in flog Baliguag, Quezon, Nueva Ecija, the KMNE was organized in 2000 by its president, Vilma B. Joson, to provide livelihood for the wives of farmers to help these rural women earn additional income for their families.

Among the processed products of the KMNE are dried tomato sweets and jellies, tamarind sweets, hot and spicy and concentrated tamarind juice, sweetened karamay, ginger tea or salabat, tilapia danggit or tilanggit, rice wine, rice coffee, Soya coffee, Soya coffee with mushroom, dried and sweetened kamias, and mango. These products are already registered at the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD).
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Posted on October 9th, 2008 under Aquaculture, Technology. Tags: Dryer. Comments: None

One of the many ways to help ensure the supply of fish is to avoid catching them at immature stage. But in these times when fish caught from the sea are getting smaller in size and quantity; how would you advise a fisherman not to catch those baby fish? Or as a consumer, how would you know if the fish you have just bought from the market were supposed to be harvested or not.

To answer these, Fishworld Center whose office in the Philippines is based in Los Banos, Laguna has suggested the use of fish ruler, a simple tool designed for advanced fisheries management.

Fish ruler helps fishermen measure the minimum length of fish ready for harvest. It can also be used to educate them to determine the minimum mesh size for their nets.

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Posted on October 1st, 2008 under Aquaculture, Technology. Tags: Fish, Fish Ruler. Comments: None

Brothers Manuel and Dr. Lino Cortes, advocates of zero pesticide farming, are spreading their soil conditioning technology to the grassroots.

Manuel Cortes, known in the broadcast industry as Ka Maning, is not only a farmcaster, forester but also a plant nutritionist. Meanwhile, his older brother, Lino is a doctor of plant genetics who, for 40 years, was based in the US. By a twist of fate, both brothers found themselves bonded by a cause: to promote zero pesticide farming in the country through complete plant nutrition and soil conditioning.

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Posted on September 23rd, 2008 under Rice, Soil, Technology. Tags: Farming, Rice. Comments: None