Agriculture Business Week

The good news for vegetable growers is that more and more new varieties are being developed by the local seed companies. One hope is that there will be less imported seeds in the coming years. Many of them will be developed right in the Philippines. After all, there are capable plant breeders who can produce seeds that are more adapted to Philippine conditions.

One company that is doing its share in promoting locally produced improved varieties is Ramgo International Corporation which established last year its own breeding and research center in Polomolok, South Cotabato. One year later, last November 25, the company invited more than 40 local government agriculturists, farmers and officials of the Department of Agriculture to see what has been going on in the company’s research station. The invitees came from as far north as the Ilocos and Cagayan Valley down to the Visayas and Mindanao. There were also a few media people like us.

And what did we see? Aside from the current bestsellers of the company, there are a number of promising varieties under trial. One that caught our attention early is a new variety of squash that is only identified by its code number Squash 11-1103. It was planted on 50 square meters side by side with another variety of Ramgo and that of another company. They were all planted on 50 square meters.

Dr. Romeo Opeña, a veteran plant breeder who spent much of his time at the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center in Taiwan, explained that the plant is not as bushy as the other varieties but it is very much more fruitful. For instance, there were more than 40 medium-size fruits produced by 11-1103 in that 50 square meters compared to only 17 in the other Ramgo variety, and 7 fruits in the variety from another seed company.

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One beautiful vegetable garden that we have seen and which may be considered educational as well as commercial is the Tanim sa Kinabukasan (TSK) project at the San Miguel Elementary School in Magalang, Pampanga.

This is a collaborative project of East-West Seed Company and the Department of Education headed by Sec. Armin Luistro.

We arrived at the place about 7:35 in the morning last November 22. And what did we see? We saw so many school children doing gardening chores, pulling weeds, cultivating the soil, inspecting plants for possible infestation and the like.

The Tanim sa Kinabukasan is really intended to teach the school kids not only the basics of growing vegetables but also teach them to cook the same, eventually encouraging them to eat more vegetables for their own good health.

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Even ordinary farmers, like land reform beneficiaries, can earn big money if they plant the right varieties and they also learn how to grow their plants the right way.

Just like Nelly Macolor of Brgy. Sto. Nino in Capoocan, Leyte. She used to plant corn and camote in her 500-square meter farm and got only an income of P440 per cropping.

After attending a six-month intensive training course on growing high-value vegetables, she was able to make a net profit of P30,000 from the same area when she planted ampalaya, cucumber and sweet pepper.

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The vegetable farmers in Rizal harvested Jupiter 208 hybrid squash developed by breeders of Allied Botanical Corporation which has an experiment station in Tayug, Pangasinan. The plant is claimed to be highly resistant to different kinds of virus that attack the squash family. It has strong vines that produce a lot of fruits. The fruits are 5 to 7 kilos each and are uniformly ribbed so that they are stackable. They can be conveniently stacked on top of one another during transport (see left photo). The flesh is best described in Tagalog as “maligat” which is preferred by most consumers.

The club could also organize farm tours and meetings for both Taiwan and the Philippines to open the eyes of farmers in both countries to the potentials of a closer working relationship. It could also initiate investment forums, particularly Philippine investment policies on agricultural projects that could be undertaken by Taiwanese, and come up with investor-friendly services to facilitate the process of setting up farming operations here. The Board of Investments, Department of Trade and Industry, local government units, the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Bureau of Immigration and the Departments of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform can provide a cohesive and clear cut policy to attract investors in various crops and farm animals, fisheries, agro-forestry, food processing and marketing for both local and export markets.

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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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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 young farmer from Kalinga province in Northern Luzon is making people’s heads turn in Sto. Tomas, Batangas as he produces big heads of cabbage.

He is 26-year-old Elmer Migo, an agriculture graduate from the Kalinga-Apayao State College in Tabuk, the provincial capital of Kalinga. After finishing college, he joined his parents in Sto. Tomas where they had earlier migrated in search of a better life as they did not own land in their home province. He first found work as salesman for a consumer products firm, then joined the Sto.Tomas municipal agriculturist’s office as crop technician. Later, agribusiness film Allied Botanical Corporation (ABC) employed him as agronomist.

He introduced and promoted to farmers throughout Batangas high-yield, pest and disease-resistant vegetable varieties, seeds of which ABC bred, produced and marketed.

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At 29, Romeo Yapit is awarded Outstanding Young Farmer of the Philippines. No doubt that’s quite an achievement.

This enterprising young farmer of Purac, Sinait, Ilocos Sur started fanning in 2002. He had to stop his schooling as he had to support his family for his father had a heart attack. He was a second year mechanical engineering student then.

Thinking of a marketable crop that would not consume much soil nutrients, Yapit observed that planting different vegetables year round and watermelon after rice was profitable.

This might be the solution, he told himself. So with the help of his brother Jerome, Yapit planted their 8,000 square meter land to various vegetables including eggplant and tomato. And he has been right; his strategy has worked out.

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Here’s a unique real estate venture. Lot buyers use only up to 20 percent of the land area for the house they will build and the rest of the property will be utilized for growing food crops or ornamental plants.

Interesting?

That’s the contract that the Manila East Lakeview Farms (MELF) makes with buyers of its lots in its development area in Barangay San Guillermo in Morong, Rizal. The contract also requires buyers to submit in the soonest possible time their detailed development plan, and to immediately fence their lot.

A division of Prime East Properties Inc., MELF has sold 55 to 60 percent of the initially developed 36.6 hectares of the consolidated 300 hectares of hilly land in San Guillermo, says farm manager Bobby Mandac.

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An interesting farming couple in San Ildefonso, Bulacan, have a smart way of maximizing production in the 11 hectares that they are planting to vegetables the whole year round. They plant the next crop way ahead of the last harvest of the standing crop on the same piece of land.

They are the husband and wife team of Felipe and Jessilyn Ramos, 40 and 38 years old, respectively, of Brgy. Sumandig, San Ildefonso town. Felipe is an agriculture graduate who used to work for a multinational company distributing agricultural chemicals and corn and vegetable seeds. He was head of the Farmers Support Team (FST) in charge of helping farmers grow better crops with the use of improved farming technologies. While Felipe was employed, Jessilyn engaged in buying vegetables and selling them at the Clover Leaf Market in Balintawak, Quezon City.

While Felipe received a decent salary from the multinational firm, he noticed that probably the farmers that they were helping were making much more money than he from growing vegetables. In 2004, he decided to give up his employment so that he could also grow vegetables in the one hectare that they owned. In October 2004, he planted his first crop of ampalaya, tomato and pole sitao.

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Another nutritious vegetable unfolds its versatility and multipurpose applications.

Squash is believed to have originated in South America, probably in Peru or Chile. It is a member of the cucurbit family, which includes pumpkins and gourds as well as cucumbers, muskmelons, and watermelons. However, the name squash is applied to certain varieties of the species Cucurbita maxima. Today, squashes are now grown in most parts.

Squash is loaded with vitamins, minerals and nutrients. It contains protein, carbohydrates, potassium, sodium, calcium, phosphorus, and vitamins A, B, and C. Squash contains high potassium, which reduces urinary calcium excretion; people who eat high amounts of dietary potassium appear to be at low risk of forming kidney stones.

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A model vegetable garden in a subdivision in San Fernando City in Pampanga could provide inspiration to other subdivisions in other parts of the country.

This is the half-hectare plantation of vegetables and other high-value crops in an open space in St. Jude Subdivision. There, the latest hybrid crops from East-West Seed Company are being grown using improved planting technologies.

The showcase is a project of San Fernando Mayor Oscar Rodriguez in cooperation with the leaders of the subdivision and East-West Seed Company. The dream of the mayor, according to Myrna Manabat, the city agriculturist, is for the 127 residential subdivisions in the city to have their own vegetable gardens. This will be for the benefit of the residents as they would have access to fresh produce.

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More than 50 varieties of new vegetables and other high-value crops are currently grown on two hectares in Brgy. Sto. Rosario, Floridablanca, Pampanga to find out how they fare under growing conditions in actual farmers’ fields.

Louie Castro, 34, a commercial photographer who shifted to the production of high-value crops in 2003, is collaborating with the East-West Seed Company in growing the crops. EWSC is a leading producer and distributor of vegetable seeds and other high-value crops in the country.

Ric Reyes, a ranking East-West Seed official, says that they are constantly developing new varieties for release every year. But they have to test them not only under their company’s experimental stations but also in actual farmers’ fields so that they will be able to find out how they fare in the field.

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Ronnie Pacatang is a farmer who lives in a simple hut atop a hill on his rolling land in Barangay Cebulida in Laak, Compostela Valley.Three years ago, in an attempt to improve his farm’s productivity and his income, he began to apply new farming technologies that he learned from representatives of farm input firms whom he managed to contact. For instance, he started planting seeds of hybrid vegetables because these promise higher yields and are resistant to some pests and diseases.

At the trading center in Tagum, Davao del Norte, which is only 60 kilometers away, he saw that there was a big demand for ampalaya, so he bought seeds of a hybrid variety and planted them in a 3,000-square-meter portion of his land to coconuts, bananas and yellow corn.

Unfortunately for him, he did not get even a quarter of what he had expected to earn from his new crop in the more than two seasons that he grew hybrid ampalaya. The main reason was the variety that he planted is susceptible to the dreaded pamamarako, a virus disease that adversely affects the crop’s yield. When his ampalaya vines were about a meter long, many of these began to show signs of stunted growth, and leaves near the vine shoots, which noticeably grew very slowly, were small and malformed. When the infected vines bore fruit, these were also small and malformed.

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