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.

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

Our Friend Toto Barcelona of Harbest Agribusiness has a bright idea. He said that if Philippine cities have sister-cities in other countries, why not sisterhood between farmer groups, from the Philippines and other countries? He has particularly in mind a sisterhood (or brotherhood?) of groups interested in agriculture from the Philippines and Taiwan.

The idea all started recently when Toto guided a group of experts from the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) in going around to observe local developments in agriculture. Toto has close affinity with Taiwanese matters so it is but natural that he always thinks of things that will further enhance beneficial relationships between citizens of the two countries. First, he stayed for many years in Taiwan doing business. He is now distributing in the Philippines hybrid seeds from Taiwan’s leading seed company. And most of all, he is married to a beautiful Taiwanese.

Fostering a closer relationship between farming groups will benefit both the Filipinos and Taiwanese. Toto rightly observes that Filipino farmers are still mainly into rice, corn, vegetables and mango production. Larger farms are into sugarcane, coffee, citrus and coconut while big corporate farnis are producing bananas, pineapple and oil palm. He notes that although efforts by the government and private initiatives are helping to improve farmers’ income, we are still far from the productivity of our Taiwanese counterparts.

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Posted on March 3rd, 2011 under Entrepreneurs, Special Report. Tags: Club, Harbest, Taiwan. Comments: 4

Everytime I visit the Kaohsiung, the prefecture in southern Taiwan, my first impulse is to enjoy the fruits in season. In fact, my father-in-law is always ready with a few pieces, especially with my favorite Taiwan orange – Liu Ding, which is available almost all year round except for the winter months, and lately, their very juicy am, sweet makopa. This last Christmas break was no different.

Taiwan is now well-known the world over for its tasty fruits. Not imported but all locally-grown. My son, Julius, enjoyed the sweet Indian Jujube, juicy Gem Makopa and Carambola offered by Dr. Kan-Shu Chen, director of the Fengshan Tropical Horticultural Experiment Branch, during our recent visit. All these were developed through research and years of field improvement in production management technique and postharvest handling procedures. The Fengshan Tropical Horticultural Experiment Branch is one of;two principal research stations among eleven of the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute (TARI).

HISTORY AND MANDATE
A developed agricultural foundation, an island-wide educational system and the railway system are what the Taiwanese are thankful for to the Japanese colonizers of 50 years. Towards the end of its occupation, the Japanese established the Fengshan Tropical Horticultural Experiment Station in 1940. Initially the improvement of pineapple and vegetable production were its primary mandates. In 1981, the station was reorganized according to the Scientific Technology Development Plan issued by the Executive Yuan (equivalent to our Executive Department). The research sections were restructured into four departments, namely: tropical fruit trees, vegetable crops, plant protection, and management, and utilization department. Since then, it has become an important research center under the TARI.

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Posted on July 31st, 2010 under Fruits. Tags: Farming, Orange, Taiwan. Comments: 1