Agriculture Business Week

Your kids don’t want to eat vegetables? Serve them veggie-flavored ice cream and malunggay noodles from Ilocos Sur and they might ask for more.

The ice cream comes in many flavors. Malunggay, squash, bell pepper-cheese, pinipig, mungbeans, peanut butter, coffee, and the local candy made from sugarcane called balikutsa are the signature flavors. Seasonal flavors include mango, green mango, kaimito, melon, tamarind, chico, jackfruit, guyabano-pineapple, and papaya-kalamansi.

The elderly will also enjoy the vegetable ice cream as there are therapeutic flavors, too. There’s ampalaya ice cream for diabetes, roasted garlic for hypertension, ginger-honey for headache, apple-guava for vitamin C, and green tea for body cleansing. Artificial sugar splanada is used in the preparation of these flavors.

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A young farmer from Kalinga province in Northern Luzon is making people’s heads turn in Sto. Tomas, Batangas as he produces big heads of cabbage.

He is 26-year-old Elmer Migo, an agriculture graduate from the Kalinga-Apayao State College in Tabuk, the provincial capital of Kalinga. After finishing college, he joined his parents in Sto. Tomas where they had earlier migrated in search of a better life as they did not own land in their home province. He first found work as salesman for a consumer products firm, then joined the Sto.Tomas municipal agriculturist’s office as crop technician. Later, agribusiness film Allied Botanical Corporation (ABC) employed him as agronomist.

He introduced and promoted to farmers throughout Batangas high-yield, pest and disease-resistant vegetable varieties, seeds of which ABC bred, produced and marketed.

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Here’s a unique real estate venture. Lot buyers use only up to 20 percent of the land area for the house they will build and the rest of the property will be utilized for growing food crops or ornamental plants.

Interesting?

That’s the contract that the Manila East Lakeview Farms (MELF) makes with buyers of its lots in its development area in Barangay San Guillermo in Morong, Rizal. The contract also requires buyers to submit in the soonest possible time their detailed development plan, and to immediately fence their lot.

A division of Prime East Properties Inc., MELF has sold 55 to 60 percent of the initially developed 36.6 hectares of the consolidated 300 hectares of hilly land in San Guillermo, says farm manager Bobby Mandac.

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An interesting farming couple in San Ildefonso, Bulacan, have a smart way of maximizing production in the 11 hectares that they are planting to vegetables the whole year round. They plant the next crop way ahead of the last harvest of the standing crop on the same piece of land.

They are the husband and wife team of Felipe and Jessilyn Ramos, 40 and 38 years old, respectively, of Brgy. Sumandig, San Ildefonso town. Felipe is an agriculture graduate who used to work for a multinational company distributing agricultural chemicals and corn and vegetable seeds. He was head of the Farmers Support Team (FST) in charge of helping farmers grow better crops with the use of improved farming technologies. While Felipe was employed, Jessilyn engaged in buying vegetables and selling them at the Clover Leaf Market in Balintawak, Quezon City.

While Felipe received a decent salary from the multinational firm, he noticed that probably the farmers that they were helping were making much more money than he from growing vegetables. In 2004, he decided to give up his employment so that he could also grow vegetables in the one hectare that they owned. In October 2004, he planted his first crop of ampalaya, tomato and pole sitao.

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A visit to this country leisure complex will make you truly appreciate the magical wonder of garden living.

For several years now, the bed and breakfast cum country leisure complex that is Sonya’s Garden has been attracting a growing list of local and foreign tourists. Aside from its healthy gustatory delights and world-class lodgings, the English-inspired garden is worth the visit especially to all veggies, herb and flower enthusiasts who want to experience the unique joy of seeing the natural beauty of “green living.” Here, weeds, herbs and a profuse display of tropical plants and flowers grow in wild abandon.

There are blue and pink hydrangea, orange dumbia, cattails, giant sunflowers, white Peruvian poinsettia and 40 other varieties blooming amidst gazebos, hammocks and antique benches.

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There are a lot of variations of this Ilocano dish but nothing compares to the version of the great Ilocano cooks.

In the Northern part of the country, some people I say pinakbet tastes different from the ones served in the restaurants of Manila, or even from the Southern part of the Philippines. The ampalaya tastes more bitter, the bagoong, saltier and the rest of the ingredients, a little bit crispier.

Pinakbet is the contracted form of the Ilocano word pinakebbet, meaning “shrunk” or shriveled.” In Ilocos province, people use bagoong as the main flavor of this all-Filipino dish, while in the South, alamang is preferred. Other ingredients include eggplant, tomatoes, ginger, squash, lima beans, winged beans, etc. But through the years, pinakbet has evolved into various forms. Let’s try to learn the classic way of preparing this great Ilocano dish.

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Another nutritious vegetable unfolds its versatility and multipurpose applications.

Squash is believed to have originated in South America, probably in Peru or Chile. It is a member of the cucurbit family, which includes pumpkins and gourds as well as cucumbers, muskmelons, and watermelons. However, the name squash is applied to certain varieties of the species Cucurbita maxima. Today, squashes are now grown in most parts.

Squash is loaded with vitamins, minerals and nutrients. It contains protein, carbohydrates, potassium, sodium, calcium, phosphorus, and vitamins A, B, and C. Squash contains high potassium, which reduces urinary calcium excretion; people who eat high amounts of dietary potassium appear to be at low risk of forming kidney stones.

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A model vegetable garden in a subdivision in San Fernando City in Pampanga could provide inspiration to other subdivisions in other parts of the country.

This is the half-hectare plantation of vegetables and other high-value crops in an open space in St. Jude Subdivision. There, the latest hybrid crops from East-West Seed Company are being grown using improved planting technologies.

The showcase is a project of San Fernando Mayor Oscar Rodriguez in cooperation with the leaders of the subdivision and East-West Seed Company. The dream of the mayor, according to Myrna Manabat, the city agriculturist, is for the 127 residential subdivisions in the city to have their own vegetable gardens. This will be for the benefit of the residents as they would have access to fresh produce.

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More than 50 varieties of new vegetables and other high-value crops are currently grown on two hectares in Brgy. Sto. Rosario, Floridablanca, Pampanga to find out how they fare under growing conditions in actual farmers’ fields.

Louie Castro, 34, a commercial photographer who shifted to the production of high-value crops in 2003, is collaborating with the East-West Seed Company in growing the crops. EWSC is a leading producer and distributor of vegetable seeds and other high-value crops in the country.

Ric Reyes, a ranking East-West Seed official, says that they are constantly developing new varieties for release every year. But they have to test them not only under their company’s experimental stations but also in actual farmers’ fields so that they will be able to find out how they fare in the field.

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Ronnie Pacatang is a farmer who lives in a simple hut atop a hill on his rolling land in Barangay Cebulida in Laak, Compostela Valley.Three years ago, in an attempt to improve his farm’s productivity and his income, he began to apply new farming technologies that he learned from representatives of farm input firms whom he managed to contact. For instance, he started planting seeds of hybrid vegetables because these promise higher yields and are resistant to some pests and diseases.

At the trading center in Tagum, Davao del Norte, which is only 60 kilometers away, he saw that there was a big demand for ampalaya, so he bought seeds of a hybrid variety and planted them in a 3,000-square-meter portion of his land to coconuts, bananas and yellow corn.

Unfortunately for him, he did not get even a quarter of what he had expected to earn from his new crop in the more than two seasons that he grew hybrid ampalaya. The main reason was the variety that he planted is susceptible to the dreaded pamamarako, a virus disease that adversely affects the crop’s yield. When his ampalaya vines were about a meter long, many of these began to show signs of stunted growth, and leaves near the vine shoots, which noticeably grew very slowly, were small and malformed. When the infected vines bore fruit, these were also small and malformed.

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Leaf curl disease of tomato, locally known to farmers as kulot or kulot ti bulong has been a major constraint to tomato production in the Philippines since the 1990s. Tomato plants affected by the disease are usually stunted and are unproductive. The symptoms on the leaves include interveinal yellowing, upward and downward curling and crinkling. Leaflets are also smaller than those of healthy plants. Symptom expression, however, may vary depending on the crop stage at the time of infection, variety, and whitefly population. The disease can be observed on tomato seedlings about two to three weeks after transplanting and depending on the pressure of the whitefly population in the field, disease incidence can increase rapidly and infection can go as high as 100%.

In the Philippines, tomato leaf curl is caused by Tomato leaf curl Philippines virus) To1CPV; formerly known as ToLCV-Ph), a whitefly-transmitted Begomovirus of the family Geminiviridae (ICTVdB Management, 2006). ToLCPV is considered as distinct virus species in the genus Begomovirus based on the relatively low nucleotide sequence identity between the genomic DNA of ToLCPV and other Gemini viruses like Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) (Kon et al., 2002). ToLCPV affected tomato plants, however, show similar symptoms as TYLCV-affected plants. Because of this similarity in symptomatology, most people associate leaf curl symptoms to TYLCV, which is considered as the most serious disease of tomato worldwide. TYCLV has been reported to occur in several countries in Asia but not in the Philippines (CABI 2007).

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Tomatoes can be kept field fresh Pr 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 Atmospheric 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 coco coir dust and polyethylene (PE) plastic packaging and a suitable crate or container for storing tomatoes.

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Here’s an easy do-it-yourself guide to managing your own garden of high-value fruits and vegetables.

Chicken manure may be mixed with complete fertilizer and administered 15-15-15 for every hectare. This may be followed with 150 to 200 kilos of ammonium sulfate two to three times every ten to fifteen days. Celery requires regular watering. Hay may also be used to cover soil in between the rows to keep the water from drying up as soil that is much too dry can cause lesser yield. Regular removal of weeds should also be done.

Celery is a vulnerable vegetable and needs utmost care in handling and growing. It is important to ensure that leaves do not get lesions during weeding, watering or applying insecticides. Insecticides should not be sprayed against wind direction to ensure safety.

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Here’s an easy do-it-yourself guide to managing your own garden of high-value fruits and vegetables.

Blackleg may be controlled through crop rotation in three years as these diseases often survive for one to two years in the remains of the crops. Affected crops should be removed from the plant beds and plots. Seed treatment may be used to control black leg. This may be done by soaking the seeds in hot water for thirty minutes. Seeds should then be dried thoroughly before planting.

Black Rot. This disease is caused by the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris pathovar campestris. Black rot primarily affects the above ground parts of the plant. Environmental conditions and the age of the plant affect the symptoms.

Black rot is characterized by yellow V-shaped lesions along to tips of the leaves. The point of the V is directed toward a vein. As the lesions grow, wilted tissue expands toward the base of the veins and veins may turn black or brown. Black rot may also spread into the stems. When stems are cut, a black-brown discoloration may be found as well as yellowish slime.

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