Agriculture Business Week

Three farmers in Malinao, Aklan have different stories to tell about their lives, but they are one in saying they are benefiting much from the new rice technology.

For Arlene Infante, Stephen Inac, and Rodiel Intenta, a greater portion of their traditional rice farming practices have been discarded and their yields have been increasing as a result of learning the new rice technology.

Arlene, 45 and a mother of three, started learning her farming tricks at an early age. When she grew older, farmers already hired her to transplant rice seedlings. She started to cultivate a small area for rice production on her own when her children were still very young. For her one-fourth hectare farm, all she needed were two panegas of seeds, weighing 26 kilograms (kg), for direct seeding. That was much too many seeds, but farmers in Malinao have been using this seeding rate all along.

(more…)

Posted on August 16th, 2012 under Rice, Technology. Tags: Rice, Technology. Comments: 3

A multi-purpose processing machine that performs the functions of a crusher, juice extractor and a mill was awarded Most Outstanding—Invention (Tuklas Award) and the WIPM Gold Medal and Certificate Award during the 2009 National Invention Contest awarding ceremonies held last November 20 at the Philippine Trade Training Center in Pasay City.

The research team, which is based in the Polangui Campus of Bicol University in Albay, is composed of Engr. Arnulfo Malinis, Engr. Eleanor Balute, Engr. Estrella Calpe and Engr. Herminigildo Lizano. In addition to a plaque, medal and certificate, the team took home P150,000 cash prize.

Malinis explained that the development of such machine helps address the need for appropriate postharvest processing facility for agricultural products in the countryside to enable farmers to add value to their produce and make it possible to sell these products at higher prices.

(more…)

Posted on December 8th, 2010 under SPOTlight, Technology. Tags: Crusher, Juicer, Machine, Technology. Comments: 2

If pundits say public policy must strike a balance between the pursuit of economic goals and protection of the environment, it is therefore a must to invest in technologies related to climate change.

Perhaps aside from the word “love” and terms like “developmental agenda,” the words “climate change” is already beginning to be one of the most abused terms in the English language. So much so that it is already starting to sound like a cliche in daily conversations. But the truth is, whether it’s abused or a cliché, we cannot escape the fact that the continuous changes in weather patterns is one thing that we all have to take seriously. We either do something about it or we perish. Complacency is not an option if we want to survive as members of the human race.

Centuries of abuse and neglect in our natural resources have already taken its toll in our dying planet. The recent aftermath of typhoons “Ondoy” and “Pepeng” which caused billions of pesos worth of damage to our agricultural sector is a concrete manifestation of this, not to mention the thousands of lives lost. We can develop new breeds of plants and animals, build roads and bridges, discover new farming methods and improve our food processing and marketing systems, but without addressing the issues of climate change, everything that we have worked on to improve our quality of life will go to naught. As mortals, we will always be at the mercy of Mother Nature.

(more…)

Posted on June 6th, 2010 under SPOTlight, Technology. Tags: Nature, Technology. Comments: None

A multi-purpose processing machine that performs the functions of a crusher, juice extractor and a mill garnered the Most Outstanding Invention (Tuklas Award) and the WIPO Gold Medal and Certificate Award during the 2009 National Invention Contest awarding ceremonies held at the Philippine Trade Training Center in Pasay City.

The research team, which is based in the Polangui Campus of Bicol University in Albay, is composed of Engr. Arnulfo Malinis, Engr. Eleanor Balute, Engr. Estrella Calpe and Engr. Herminigildo Lizano. In addition to the plaque, medal and certificate, the team took home P150,000 as cash prize.

Engr. Malinis explained that the development of such machine helps address the need for appropriate postharvest processing facilities for agricultural products in the countryside to enable farmers to add value to their produce so they can sell these products at higher prices.

(more…)

Posted on January 24th, 2010 under Technology. Tags: Technology. Comments: 2

Topnotch poultry and livestock equipment supplier Belmont is promoting the use of a new climate control technology to optimize the growth of chicken while generating power savings of up to 70 percent.

The technology involves a combi-tunnel ventilation system designed specifically for regions with heavy daily or seasonal temperature variations.

The system works by taking in fresh air through wall inlets, thus entailing minimum ventilation to remove the excess moisture and heat of the animals.

“Though it’s still in the exploratory stage, the combi-tunnel ventilation is perfect for subtropical and tropical countries like the Philippines. The combi-tunnel technology integrates various ventilation principles into a single intelligent system. It ensures optimum conditions for the chickens by letting ventilation depend on the outdoor temperature, humidity and the age of the animals,” said Belmont’s marketing manager Tony Magno.

(more…)

Posted on October 23rd, 2009 under Climate Change. Tags: Climate Change, Poultry, Technology. Comments: 2

Tomatoes can be kept field-fresh for three weeks without using cold storage, according to the researchers from the Laguna-based Philippine Horticulture Training and Research Center (PHTRC).

One economical alternative is to use the Evaporative Cooling and Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Technology which prolongs the storage life of fresh tomatoes under ordinary condition using locally available materials.

Developed by the team of Gloria Masilungan, Dr. Edralina Serrano and Kevin Yap, Evaporative Cooling and MAP Technology utilizes coconut coir dust and polyethylene (PE) plastic packaging and a suitable crate or container for storing tomatoes.

(more…)

Posted on October 22nd, 2009 under Technology, Vegetables. Tags: Cold Storage, Technology, Tomato, Veggies. Comments: 1

With its vast production of highland semi temperate vegetables, Benguet province is dubbed as the salad bowl of the country. Moreover, the high-value crops produced here have a great potential in the global market.

This is why cold chain facilities are very imperative in Benguet. And good thing that the province has been provided with reefer trucks and cold storage for this continuous refrigerated handling of veggies from farms to markets. For all we know, nobody wants to buy withered vegetables, right?

The P8 million Benguet Cold Chain was established in Wangal, La Trinidad; Benguet. With financial support from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the Department of Agriculture (DA) and with assistance from the Bureau of Postharvest and Research and Extension (BPRE), the government of Benguet set it up primarily to cater to the demand for fresh veggies, especially in high-end markets.

(more…)

Posted on September 11th, 2009 under Technology, Vegetables. Tags: Benguet, Cold Chain, Technology, Veggies. Comments: None

It is not unusual when a farmer from Luzon or from Visayas relocates to Mindano for good. What is quite unusual is when a Mindanaoan goes to Luzon and settles there to do his brand of farming.

That’s exactly the case of Jose Paquibongan, an agriculturist born in Bohol but who stayed in Mindanao for several years after graduating from college. Mindoro farmers he has been helping consider him a Mindanaoan rather than a Boholano. Joe finished an agriculture course at the Bohol State College in Bilar in 1984. Immediately after graduation, he went to Mati, Davao Oriental, to help a relative manage a diversified farm where they had coconut, coffee, cacao, guava and farm animals like hogs and goats.

For a number of years, he also worked as rice technician of the Farm Systems Development Corporation in Tagum, Davao del Norte. That was a government agency which was dissolved after President Corazon Aquino took over the helm of the government.

(more…)

Posted on September 7th, 2009 under Farming, Technology. Tags: Corn, Durabloom, Farming, Mindanao, Mindoro, Rice, Technology. Comments: 1

The National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at University of the Philippines Los Banos (BIOTECH) counts a microbial based fertilizer as its most successfully marketed technology.

Bio-N, a nitrogen supplement for rice, corn and vegetables, is a microbial-based fertilizer composed mainly of living bacteria isolated from the roots of talahib (Saccharum spontaneum).  “Through government support, we have been able to create more than 60 mixing plants for Bio-N to date,” says Dr. Jocelyn T. Zarate, BIOTECH researcher.

With the mixing plants mostly owned by farmers cooperatives in a kind of franchise arrangement with BIOTECH, the technology becomes available to more farmers in the country. “That is to say, farming cooperatives can purchase a single, pack of Bio-N, mix it in the mixing plant, and produce about 20 more packs of Bio-N that they can sell at P60 each,” Zarate says. “So the cooperatives, which shell out around P500,000 per mixing plant, including training and setup, can keep on earning from the Bio-N.”

(more…)

Posted on August 11th, 2009 under Organic, Technology. Tags: Bio-N, Biotech, Fertilizer, Microbes, Organic, Technology. Comments: 7

In a triumphal end to a challenging year, PCARRD’s partners in livestock R&D made the news for their outstanding performance in knowledge generation, technology transfer and research management and governance.

Leading the pack is this year’s recipient of the PCARRD Tanglaw Award – the Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) based in Munoz, Nueva Ecija. The Tanglaw Award recognizes an institution for generating new knowledge, promoting science, grounding initiatives in partnership with local and foreign agencies, disseminating technology and creating livelihood. The PCC received the award during PCARRD’s 36th Anniversary Celebration on November 7 at the Hotel Intercontinental Manila in Makati city.

The Center is credited with the carabaos increased body size and mill, production and the dissemination of good breeder animals. As a research agency under the Department of Agriculture, it led high-end livestock research focusing on reproductive biotechnology to increase the genetic quality of breeding animals.

(more…)

Posted on April 27th, 2009 under Livestock, Technology. Tags: Carabao, PCCARD, Technology. Comments: None

The improved processing and packaging of fermented mudfish, the drying of seaweed with a heat pump and the intensive production of tilanggit in concrete tanks garnered the top prizes at the 2009 Aquatic Technology Competition sponsored by the Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology.

Researchers Wilma de Vera and Raquel Pambid of the Pangasinan State University (Bayambang Campus) won the First Prize with a cash award of Php150,000 for improving the technology for processing and packaging “burong dalag.” With thorough and scientific studies, they standardized the methods for producing a product that is pleasant in smell and more nutritious, palatable and food safe compared to the traditionally prepared product. The improved product is of export quality and is now being produced commercially by housewives of families living along Mangabal Lake, the source of the mudfish, as a livelihood industry.

The Second Prize with a cash award of Php100,000 went to Dr. Zenaida Angngarayngay and her co-researchers of the Mariano Marcos State University in Batac City, Ilocos Norte. They improved the drying of the red seaweed, Porphyra, locally known as “gamet” which is collected by small fisherfolk from the rocky coasts of Burgos, Ilocos Norte and processed into a high-value dried product that costs as much as Php4,000 per kilo. With a heat pump dryer developed in their institution, the keeping, nutritive and hygienic qualities of “gamet” has been much improved compared to the sun-dried product thereby enhancing its market and export value.

(more…)

Posted on April 25th, 2009 under Aquaculture, Technology. Tags: ATCOM, Fish, Technology, Tilapia. Comments: None

The Bureau of Postharvest Research and Extension (BPRE) advises farmers to prevent the deterioration of perishable crops like fruits and vegetables. The products must be of good quality even before harvest. This is because production practices have a tremendous effect on crop quality. This quality must be maintained through appropriate postharvest handling as they reach the consumers.

BPRE specialists tell us that recommended postharvest handling technologies and practices can no longer cure prior damage and injury suffered by the harvest. Farmers must understand that respiration, loss of moisture, and microbial growth induce quality deterioration of perishable crops. Thus, these must be minimized to attain optimum shelf life of fruits and vegetables.

During respiration, sugars, fats, proteins and other food reserves in the product are converted into metabolic energy needed to keep plant tissues alive and functioning. Since respiration uses oxygen and produces carbon dioxide and water vapor, the respiration rate of a product determines its transit and postharvest life. The higher the rate of respiration, the faster the product losses moisture, and the faster it deteriorates.

(more…)

Posted on February 19th, 2009 under Agri Tips, Fruits, Technology, Vegetables. Tags: Detrioration, Fresh, Fruits, Packing, Perishable, Technology, Vegetables. Comments: 1

Random thoughts on Rice, Science, Technology, etc. (insights from a non S&T insider) is a compilation of 24 selected column pieces written by Chat Garrido-Ocampo for the Mindanao Times, the leading and oldest newspaper in Mindanao, and published by the Tran Yan Kee Foundation, Inc. in cooperation with the Department of Agriculture.

The book breathes a fresh whiff of air in what most people consider as a “dull subject,” which is agriculture. Herein lays the main strength of the book: Clear and, at times, entertaining perspectives on agricultural science, with special focus on rice research, as readers with a modicum of scientific background meander across a broad range of topics written in a very laymanized style.

From her foreword, the author immediately takes her readers on a journey to the interesting world of rice that she came to learn (and is still learning), appreciate, and understand, by her own admission, in a “nervous pace.”

(more…)

Posted on February 6th, 2009 under Rice, SPOTlight, Technology. Tags: Books, Rice, Science, Technology. Comments: None

Researchers of the Central Luzon State University (CLSU) Small Ruminant Center (SRC) and the Philippine Carabao Center have successfully done embryo transfer in goats despite a minimal budget of P350,000 for four years.

Towards the end of July this year, SRC Director Dr. Emilio Cruz showed to new CLSU President Dr. Ruben C. Sevilleja the two kids produced recently through embryo transfer (ET).

With Dr. Cruz as the coordinator, Dr. Lucia M. Rigos of the CLSU College of Agriculture leads this project with the collaboration of Dr. Felomino V. Mamuad and Dr. Edwin C. Atabay, both of the Philippine Carabao Center, Allan Quiambao, Dr. Alvin P. Soriano, and Fitz Vengerald L. Mamuad.

(more…)

Posted on February 1st, 2009 under Livestock, Technology. Tags: Embryo, Goat, Technology. Comments: 1