Agriculture Business Week

Bohol used to be a big importer of a lot of vegetables such as tomatoes, cabbage, eggplant, squash and others mostly from Northern Mindanao. These days, some are still sourced from outside the province but that may not continue sooner than most people think. It won’t be surprising if the is and province will soon become an exporter of its own high quality vegetables, especially to the big market in Cebu.

The reason is that growing high-yielding hybrid vegetables is becoming increasingly popular in the province as more and more farmers are discovering that there is big money in growing such varieties.

The increasing popularity of high yielding vegetables can be gauged by the volume of sales of planting materials in the last few years. One seed firm, East-West Seed Company, for instance, has tremendously increased its sales in the last three years. For example, the company sold only P400,000 worth of seeds in 2006. In 2007, the value topped P1.2 million while this year the company is well on its way to sell at least P2 million worth of seeds. Of course, East-West Seed is just one of the suppliers of vegetable seeds in the province. At least three other seed companies are also selling their own varieties there.

The increased popularity of vegetable growing in Bohol can be attributed to a large extent to a program called “Yearround Vegetable Production Project,” a collaborative program of the Department of Agrarian Reform, local government units, and East-West Seed Company. The project is currently implemented in the six towns of Balilihan, Catigbian, Trinidad, Ubay, San Isidro and Antiquera.

One important aspect of the program is the free training of farmers on the improved techniques of vegetable production. Such techniques include the use of high-quality varieties, proper land preparation, use of seedling tray in producing seedlings, use of plastic mulch (to suppress weeds, conserve moisture and prevent water logging during rainy months), integrated pest and disease management, right fertilization, and marketing. The farmers are also taught how to make their own organic fertilizer.

How is the program implemented? Under the scheme, the DAR is underwriting the expenses of the technology transfer specialists from East-West Seed who are conducting the free training of farmers. The trainers are lady agriculturists Daisy Monreal and Cathy Cotillas.

In each town, a cluster of 25 trainees is trained through lectures as well as hands-on practice on the different aspects of vegetable production. The training consists of 14 weekly sessions. After the training, the farmers undertake their vegetable production projects in their own farm or on rented land.

Most of the trainees usually don’t have enough money to pursue their own vegetable projects. To solve this constraint, the farmers are given loans not in the form of cash but in the form of inputs such as seeds, plastic seedling tray, plastic mulch, fertilizer and other inputs which they will pay upon selling their harvests. To make sure that the farmers succeed in their projects, the technicians of East-West Seed continuously provide technical assistance in taking care of their vegetables.

Once the farmers have put up their own projects and are already fruiting, the different town officials conduct what they call “Lakbay Aral” where other farmers in the municipality (as well as from other towns) visit the successful vegetable projects. The growers themselves do the explaining to the visiting farmers how they grew their highyielding vegetables. The Lakbay Aral has encouraged many other farmers to undertake their own plantings who are also continuously guided by the technicians and by the trained farmers themselves.

The farmers have proven that even very small plantings are highly profitable. One outstanding example is Roberto “Boy” Cuyacot, a former barangay captain of Brgy. Benliw, Ubay town.

Earlier this year, he got a loan-in-kind worth P7,000 in the form of seeds and other inputs for growing sweet pepper and ampalaya.

Last March 20, he planted 300 seedlings of Majesty, a high-yielding sweet pepper, on 125 square meters in his backyard. He got his first harvest of a few kilos last May 4 which he sold at P30 per kilo. His harvest significantly increased as the plants grew older and the price also got higher. Two times a week, he picked the ripe fruits which fetched up to P60 per kilo. Thus by the time he was interviewed last August 10, he had already sold P40,000 worth of fruits. On that day he harvested 100 kilos which fetched P80 per kilo.

He is expecting to harvest much more in the succeeding weeks.

A neighbor of Cuyacot, Diomedes Boyles, made money from eggplant and tomatoes. His first planting of 900 Casino eggplants earlier this year has provided him enough profit to pay off all his previous indebtedness and more for sending his children-to school. His eggplants are still productive up to this time. He also made money from planting an all-season hybrid tomato.

The keen interest of municipal officials is also contributing to the surge in interest in vegetable production. Just like Mayor Victoria Chatto of Balilihan who aims to make her town the vegetable basket of Bohol. The farmers have formed the Balilihan Vegetable Growers Association and they have been marketing their harvests as a group. Mayor Chatto has given them free space in a building near the public market where they bring their produce for sale to distributors as well as to retailers in the public market.

As a group, the members could be linked to big buyers from Cebu City and other urban centers. As a group, they could produce enough volume to meet the requirements of supermarkets and institutional buyers, for instance. There are many other possibilities when growers cooperate with each other and act as a group.

Yes, Bohol’s example is something other provinces can emulate, not only in producing vegetables but many other farm products.