Agriculture Business Week

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.

(more…)

Posted on March 20th, 2011 under Organic, Vegetables. Tags: Hybrid, Pangasinan, Squash, Taiwan, Veggies. Comments: 5

A lady farm operator who grows fruits and orchids is very ecstatic these days. She is Remy Rodis-Santelices who has a farm in Sto. Tomas, Batangas and another in Pozorrubio, Pangasinan. After three months of using an organic foliar fertilizer on her durian trees, ornamentals and orchids, the plants are doing extremely well. Her durian trees, in particular, have started to produce a lot of flowers since the middle of last December after spraying the trees weekly with the organic fertilizer since last October.

Her colored dendrobium orchids which rarely flowered before have developed fat stems and are now profusely flowering. The same is true with her other ornamental plants. They are growing very vigorously.

The registered name of the foliar fertilizer is Advance Organic Fertilizer manufactured in Cebu by Green Philippines. Soon another factory will be set up in Pangasinan to take care of the requirements of farmers and gardeners in Luzon.

(more…)

Posted on February 6th, 2011 under Organic. Tags: Durian, Fertilzier, Organic, Pangasinan. Comments: 12

Even as their farming techniques vary from each other; three farmers in Pangasinan say the same thing about the latest corn hybrid they planted- their yields from it was much higher than from the other varieties they used before.

Anselmo Dionio, 55, of Caaringayan, Laoac town said his recent yield from 3 hectares planted to Bioseed 9909 was as much as 10 tons of shelled corn per hectare. Last year, he harvested an average of 11 tons of shelled corn per hectare using the same variety. This year he also planted 1.8 hectares in Sta. Barbara in partnership with a large-scale poultry raiser, Engr. Manuel Soriano, and estimated that the yield would be also about 10 tons per hectare even as the corn ears were still being dried before shelling.

On the other hand, Edwin dc Asis, 47, of Dumayat, Binalonan planted Bioseed 9909 in 6,000 square meters. He harvested 5,026 kilograms or 8,376 kilos per hectare.

(more…)

Posted on July 4th, 2009 under Corn/Maize. Tags: Corn, Farmers, Hybrid, Pangasinan. Comments: None

It is still nine months away but the members of the mango growers’ association in Pangasinan are already preparing for the holding of the 12th National Mango Congress in Lingayen, Pangasinan on February 22 to 24 next year.

At the recent mango congress in Tagbilaran City attended by a delegation from’Pangasman headed by provincial board member Danny Uy and association president Patricio Evangelista, they revealed the plans for the forthcoming mango convention.

The first two days will be spent in social activities as well,as discussion of the latest developments in the mango industry. Various stakeholders in the industry will showcase their products for the visitors to see. Suppliers of inputs will be there for product presentations.

(more…)

Posted on June 22nd, 2009 under Events, Fruits. Tags: Mango, Pangasinan. Comments: 7

Two new projects of the Abono Party List were launched recently, aimed at promoting farming and other livelihood projects in Pangasinan. One is the province wide white corn, planting competition and the establishment of the Pangasinan Special Pasalubong Center in Carmen East, Rosales.

The white corn planting competition started last February and will culminate in a harvest festival in May. The project aims to promote the production of white corn for human consumption. This is meant to help supplement rice of which the country is still in short supply. Rosendo So, chairman of Abono Party List, said that white corn is an excellent rice substitute. In fact man} Visayans prefer eating white corn over rice. And one belief is that the superior performance of basketball stars and boxers from Cebu and Mindanao can be attributed to their corn diet.

Under the scheme, the 1,200 barangays in the province were provided with P1,000 worth of seeds for planting on 2,500 square meters. On the other hand, the provincial government headed by Gov. Amado T. Espino Jr. provided P1,500 worth of fertilizers and other inputs that the participants can use in producing their crops.

(more…)

Posted on June 11th, 2009 under Special Report. Tags: Livelihood, Pangasinan, Projects. Comments: None

Mayor Hernani A. Braganza is well on his way to making Alaminos City the tourism agri-tourism capital of Pangasinan.

On his speech during the conference on “Investing on the Environment and the Role of the Business Sector in the Environment” almost three years ago, Mayor Hernani A. Braganza of Alaminos, Pangasinan revealed, “Alaminos City is in a race against time, towards destiny. As a new city at the heart of Western Pangasinan, we are confronted with the age-old problem of underdevelopment and the ills that trade-induced rapid urbanization brings. But the new city government and our development partners are facing the challenges squarely to make Alaminos a model of sustainable and equitable progress.”

He pointed out the economic challenges that the city stands to face: poverty and low income levels, limited employment and self employment and insufficiency of food items. In 2004, one third of the total households in Alaminos were considered poor as per a survey conducted by the City Social Welfare and Development Office. Also, employment absorption capacity of the local economy remained limited as commercial and industrial establishments were few and were dominated by retail trade stores, while tourism, which can absorb a large workforce, has been struggling since the early `90s when the American military bases disappeared and new vacation destinations have been developed. With the exception of rice, bangus and salt, Alaminos continued to become a “net” importer of agricultural commodities conservatively estimated at Php150M annually.

(more…)

Posted on May 8th, 2009 under Special Report. Tags: Agrivolution, Alaminos, Pangasinan. Comments: None

The sea cucumber or candfish is a marine invertebrate with spinyskin that dwells at the bottom of coastal waters. It is a high-value export product that is in demand in Hong Kong, Korea, and Singapore.

There are 25 species of sea cucumbers that are commercially important of the 100 species found in the Philippines. In 1985, the country was the second largest exporter of sea cucumber in the world. With overfishing and degradation of the coastal environment, however, the natural populations of sea cucumbers have dwindled.

To enhance the livelihoods of coastal families and replenish depleted stocks of sea cucumbers in the wild, a project for the breeding and sea ranching of sandfish (Holuthuria scabra) has been initiated by researchers of the University of the Philippines’ Marine Science Institute (UP-MSI) in Bolinao, Pangasinan. The project is supported by the Philippine Department of Agriculture, the WorldFish Center and the Australian Center for International Agricultural Research.

(more…)

Posted on January 1st, 2009 under Aquaculture. Tags: Candfish, Pangasinan, Sea Cucumber. Comments: 36