Agriculture Business Week

Growing dragon fruit in our backyard has two-fold benefits: firstly, it satisfies one’s hobby of gardening and secondly, it provides fruits for healthy body.

Dragon fruit, commonly called “gift of nature”, is the latest entrant to the world of super fruits. It possesses numerous health benefits[1]. It is significantly rich in antioxidants called phytoalbumin which prevents the formation of cancer-causing free radicals. The fruit is low in calories and high in fiber which helps to avoid constipation by acting as natural laxative. The fiber enhances digestion and reduces fat to improve the overall digestive health. It also helps excrete heavy metal toxins from the body.

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Posted on September 9th, 2010 under Fruits. Tags: Backyard, Dragon Fruit. Comments: 93

Native to Central and South America, dragon fruit(Hylocereus undatus) or pitaya is gaining its own niche in the Philippine market.

Although this vine-line cactus is widely cultivated in Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand, where the weather is conducive for growing this humid-loving crop, it has reached the Philippines just recently. It has economic value and competitive advantage in the local fruit industry, so more and more Filipino farmers and fruit processors are getting interested in it.

Production technology, however, remains a major constraint since dragon fruit is relatively new in the country.

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Posted on July 22nd, 2009 under Fruits. Tags: Dragon Fruit, Pitaya. Comments: 11

Last December, I visited the first dragon fruit farm in the Ilocos Region, the REFMAD Farm in Burgos, Ilocos Norte, which is owned and managed by husband and wife Rodolfo and Edita Dacuycuy from Pasuquin.

It started only in November 2006 primarily for the production of fruits that could be of help to the couple’s 23-year old daughter who is suffering from cerebral palsy as they were told earlier that fruits have some medicinal properties.

At the time of our first visit, the Dacuycuys had already established 1.5 hectares (ha) of dragon fruit farm from Central and South America. After almost one year, they have established an additional 1.5 ha, which was a forested area. They have also hired more farm workers; last year there were only three workers and now there are eight of them.

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Posted on January 24th, 2009 under Fruits. Tags: Dragon Fruit, Ilocos. Comments: 98

Other than the flesh of the Dragon Fruit, which commands a high price, the unopened buds, dried flowers, and fruit skin can also be processed into food, according to Edith Dacuycuy, owner of the REFMAD Farm in Burgos, Ilocos Norte, the first Dragon Fruit farm in the Ilocos Region.

She was more than glad to share her recipes. The unopened buds can be made into a delicious fresh salad. But that is if you can afford it since the buds are the ones that develop into fruits. All you need are five flower buds weighing about half a kilo. Wash the buds and slice into four from base to tip. Steam to preserve all food nutrients. Add a little salt to steaming water. Remove the steamed buds from the steamer and then mix it with mayonnaise, catsup, and a little pepper to taste.

The dried flowers, on the other hand, can be cooked into lumpiang shanghai. Soak the dried flowers in water for five minutes, wash twice, and then chop finely. Peel carrots and chop “finely with garlic. Mix all ingredients together, including a pinch of pepper and a small sachet of seasoning mix. Wrap the mixture with lumpia wrapper. Fry just before serving to maintain crispiness.

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Posted on January 6th, 2009 under Fruits. Tags: Dragon Fruit. Comments: 6

One of the new crops the farmers in Ilocos Norte are producing is dragon fruit or pitaya, the fruit of cacti that are native to Central and South America. These cacti are now also cultivated in Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and Taiwan.

In the town of Burgos, Ilocos Norte, which is known for its centuries-old lighthouse, there is a 5-hectare (ha) farm where 3 ha are being developed for the production of dragon fruit.

Husband and wife Rodolfo and Edita Dacuycuy own this farm located at the foot of the historic lighthouse. Although they started planting dragon fruit only on November 12, 2006, they have already harvested 120 kg of fruits from their farm and 80 kg from their backyard in Pasuquin, the town before Burgos.

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Posted on November 18th, 2008 under Fruits. Tags: Dragon Fruit. Comments: 11

For 18 years, husband and wife Rey and Rebecca Villacorta of Barangay Kaingin in San Rafael, Bulacan had been in dealing dressed chicken. Their business was doing so well that they established outlets in public markets where they were delivering some 1.5 tons of dressed chicken daily.

But as the technology advances, modern chicken dressing plants started to rise one by one and the competition became stiffer and stiffer until the couple’s business gradually declined.

Their fallback was a 3-hectare rolling land that they borrowed from a cousin. They developed the farm and planted sinta papaya and tissue-cultured lakatan bananas. They sourced the technology and planting materials from an agricultural college in Cavite.
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Posted on October 2nd, 2008 under Fruits. Tags: Dragon Fruit. Comments: 21

Because of its production and economic importance, this fruit showed competitive advantage for the local fruit industry.

The sensation surrounding this fabulous fruit can be attributed to a legend created by ingenious Asian marketers. According to the legend, the fruit was created thousands of years ago by fire breathing dragons. During a battle when the dragon would breathe fire, the last thing to come out would be the fruit. After the dragon is slain, the fruit is collected and presented to the Emperor as a coveted treasure and indication of victory. The soldiers would then butcher the dragon and eat the flesh. It was believed that those who feasted on the flesh would be endowed with the strength and ferocity of the dragon and that they too would be coveted by the Emperor.

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Posted on September 17th, 2008 under Fruits. Tags: Dragon Fruit. Comments: 1