Agriculture Business Week

Oscar Tolentino and Michael Tolentino are not related to each other, but both of them say their crop yields have increased with the use of the biorganic fertilizer Durabloom, which is manufactured by Novatech Agri-Foods Industries.

Oscar, 54, whose farm is in Paniqui and Guimba, Nueva Ecija, started using Durabloom only last year but before the provincial government launched its “Tarlac Natural” program on the use of organic fertilizer.

On the other hand, Michael, 55, has been using this bio-organic fertilizer on rice and corn in Camiling since four years ago when his aunt, Pura Tolentino, insisted that he use it to minimize cost of production and increase yields.

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Alex Alcarde Centena has spent almost two decades in politics. He has been a town councilor for 10 years and mayor of Calinog, Iloilo for 9 years. He used to start and end his days with public service. Nowadays when he’s not anymore in office, he is still as enthusiastic as before, and that’s because of his new-found venture.

He is producing Red Lady papayas in 3 hectares of his family’s vast property in Brgy. Cabagiao in Calinog. He started in June 2007 and by July, he began the land preparation, which was one of the most expensive phases of production, second to maintenance of the plantation itself.

Asked why he chose to produce the Red Lady variety, he said it’s because “aside from the fact that it is more prolific and has marketable size, Red Lady papaya tree only grows several feet tall so it is easier to harvest fruits from it.

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Papaya, an aphrodisiac? Really?

Many Filipinos might not believe that papaya, the fruit that is known to control libido, might be an aphrodisiac.

But in Guatemala, men are said to eat papayas as an aphrodisiac. HowStuff-Works.com mean while reported that papaya increases female libido, and that the fruit has compounds that act as the female hormone estrogen.

“It has been used as a folk remedy in promoting menstruation and milk production, facilitating childbirth and increasing the female libido,” it says.

Whether papaya is an aphrodisiac for men or women or not at all for both sexes is just a trivial issue compared to the multitude of health benefits it Lives.

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UPLB’s Dr. Domingo Angeles, a papaya expert, talks about the various potentials of this famed tropical fruit.

Not all fruits are created equal. Some are sweet and some are not. There is at least one so well liked that was important enough to have songs composed in its honor.

But what is this fruit which has one traditional song that cites it, with yet another one – a modern piece at that – also bearing its name?

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There are many ways one can make money from papaya. There are risks as well as rewards, so one has to be smart to know how to make the papaya project profitable.

GROWING SEEDLINGS FOR SALE
One money-making project that is starting to become popular is growing papaya seedlings for sale. If one is_proficient in production as well as in marketing the seedlings, there is big money to be made. There’s a lady employee from Antipolo City who has been producing Sinta and Red Lady papaya seedlings as a sideline. She sells her production to a nursery of a friend where there are many customers. It is just a small operation but she makes a net of about P10 per seedling that she delivers to her outlet.

The big-time seedling producer of papaya seedlings, of course, is Desiree Duran of Basuit, San Ildefonso, Bulacan. She has been producing seedlings of Sinta papaya since 2003. She estimates that she had supplied the planting materials to about 50 hectares out of the 100 hectares planted to papaya in 2006 in San Ildefonso.

Desiree has mastered the production of papaya seedlings (as well as vegetable hybrids). The papaya seeds are germinated in seedling trays and when they have developed a few leaves, they are transferred to a 2.5-inch-diameter black plastic bag so they can be hardened. Forty-five days from sowing the seeds, the seedlings are ready for sale. In 2007, a lot of papaya growers, not only from Bulacan but also from Pampanga had ordered papaya seedlings from her that could have easily planted 100 hectares.

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As more and more enthusiasts are getting interested in planting Red Lady Papaya, which is very much in demand as ripe table papaya, there are also some seedling growers who are trying to make a fast buck from this papaya variety. Beware of them because they pass seedlings grown from the seeds of the hybrid plants as F1 or first filial generation seedlings.

Sometime in 2006, we tried planting six Red Lady seedlings which we got from Dr. Ronaldo A. Sumaoang, president and CEO of Novatech Agri-Food Industries, and we are now making some money from the fruits even with this limited number. This made us interested to plant some more, and Dr. Sumaoang provided us additional seedlings, which he obtained from a seedling grower

Planted during the last wet season. the plants are now bearing fruits but definitely, the seeds used by the seedling grower were not F1s. The fruits are a clear proof of the segregating characters of the plants, as they van in size, shape, and density. Some plants bear elongated fruits, while the others have oblong fruits. Unfortunately, too, the fruits are not as close to each as those of the Fl. The plants are also tall.

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