Agri Magazine features sheep

By ZAC B. SARIAN

August 25, 2010, 2:09pm

There’s a good money-making potential in raising sheep as featured in the September issue of Agriculture Magazine which is now off the press. It is possibly the reason why the forthcoming Agrilink trade show from October 7 to 9 will be placing special emphasis on small ruminants which are principally goats and sheep.

The September issue features the tandem of Jonie and Jeff Valencia who run the Ebenezer Goat Farm in Capas, Tarlac. Raising sheep has its own advantages. The animals are very docile and they could be raised not only for meat but also as browsers that will keep down the weeds in an orchard.

Of course, sheep meat is also a delicacy. The lamb chop you order in upscale restaurants is expensive. Sheep could be cooked into a lechon that has its special taste. Our friend Dr. Rene Sumaoang who has almost a hundred sheep in his farm in Tarlac says that one sheep lechon he made during a celebration of his daughter’s passing the medical board was able to feed no less than 50 people.

Of course, there are other interesting stories in the September issue of Agriculture Magazine. One of them is Madre de Agua as a cheap chicken feed. One native chicken raiser in Batangas is able to reduce the cost of feeding by feeding his flock with 50 percent chopped Madre de Agua and 50 percent commercial feed. He said he could make a P100 net profit from one native chicken raised in five to six months.

There is also the inspiring story of the self-sustaining demo farm in Calauan, Laguna – the Center for Rural Technology Development or CRTD. This center showcases doable technologies that farmers can adopt. These include integrated farming, vermiculture-based projects, tilapia breeding and hatchery, livestock-based farming system, aquaculture-based farming system and several other projects.

Dr. Rafael D. Guerrero III reports on the vermicomposting project of Mountain View College in Valencia, Bukidnon. The college started with a hundred kilos of African nightcrawler in 2006. Today, Dr. Guerrero reports, it has an estimated 3.5 tons of earthworms that churn vermicompost out of locally available raw materials. Everyday, the vermi project produces about 800 kilos of vermicompost which is mostly used for the school’s farm projects.

You will also read about the new pole sitao varieties and Arabica coffee varieties approved recently by the National Seed Industry Council. The new pole sitao varieties, Hitik and Rikit, were developed by researchers of the BPI station in Los Banos. The three approved strains of Arabica coffee, on the other hand, were developed by the BPI station in Baguio City.

Published in Manila Bulletin August 26, 2010.

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52 Practical/Scientific Reasons to go to Church...

besides the obvious ones.

Reason No. 3 - Happier Marriages

Can going to church improve your marriage? There is considerable evidence for this. 
Take for example, one study published in the Review of Religious Research in 1990. The study was conducted by M.G. Dudley and F.A. Kosinski. They tested 228 married Bible Christian couples for private religious practice (personal and family prayer, Bible reading), intrinsic religiosity (how the person feels about religion), and religious practice (going to church, witnessing, financial support). After controlling for a number of variants, the best predictor of happy marriage was found to be consistent religious practice -- including attending church and personal and family devotion. This study is one of many that corroborate these findings across many faiths. 

Dudley, M.G., and F.A. Kosinski, "Religiosity and Marital Satisfaction: A Research Note," Review of Religious Research 32 (1990): 78-86.

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Coconut Industry's big rebound to help economy.

• Coconut Palm Sugar Organic Low Glycemic Sweetener Alternative to Agave, Stevia & Cane www.sweet-tree.biz

By MARVYN N. BENANING

August 12, 2010, 9:28pm

The coconut industry’s big rebound can help increase economic growth, particularly through the commercialization of new products and the maximization of biofuel extraction.

Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) administrator Oscar G. Garin stressed his agency has been researching on the development of new products from coconut, which is cultivated by 2.5 million farmers nationwide.

The industry produces 47 products for the domestic market and 62 for  foreign markets, making coconut a strategic agricultural commodity.

Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala has also urged industry stakeholders to intensify work on developing high-value products from coconut apart from virgin coconut oil (VCO), desiccated coconut and biofuel.

Garin stressed the versatile coconut, called far and wide as the “tree of life” has to compete in the vegetable oil market and undertake additional research  to promote it as the best oil in global trade.

The PCA administrator explained that the country should exploit its leading role as a coconut producer to develop new technologies and by-products needed by the global market.

Garin spearheaded the celebration of the 9th Coconut Festival and 24th  National Coconut Week at the SM Megatrade B Hall 1 of Megamall in Mandaluyong City from August 12 to 15, 2010 with the theme “Niyog-Yaman ng Pinoy.”

Coconut is a renewable energy source and with the entire world seeking greener fuel, the market for biofuel is growing.

The four-day celebration features discussions on the prospects of the industry, investment opportunities and research and development (R&D) of coconut products.

Garin added that experts from various sectors will tackle the following:  Filtered Crude Coconut Oil for Power Generation; DoE 2010-2030 Biomass/Alternative Energy Program;Bio-ecological Engineering using Coir and Phyto-remediation Intervention; New Direction in  the Processing of High Yield VCO, Coconut Concentrate and High Fiber Coconut Milk; Development of Packaging Technology for VCO; Strategic Marketing of Coconut Products; Organic Certifications for Coconut Products, Updates on Phil. National Standards of Coconut Products; VCO Industry Roadmap for 2010-2015; Research Updates on Fermentation Process of VCO as well as on Coconut Water as High Electrolyte Drink, and; Glycemic Index of Coconut Food Products among others.

New coco products from Coconut House like coco yogurt and coco chill were also introduced along with the launch of two books on coconut written by experts from the PCA and the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD.)

The main media partner for the four-day celebration is the Manila Bulletin.

Farming family finds greener pasture in milking carabao

By Anselmo Roque

Central Luzon Desk

SAN JOSE CITY – By common rice farming standards, Salvador Tobias, 55, of Barangay Villa Joson here, can already be considered a big-time farmer as he owns and tills a five-hectare rice land.

But Tobias’ years devoted to farming were marked with seemingly endless difficulties.

His rice lands are rain-fed areas which, most often than not, are not irrigated well enough. Using irrigation pumps to supply the water needs of his rice plants is expensive due to the high cost of engine fuel. Not even his foray into vegetable farming, including onion production, helped him out of poverty.

Stuck in the farm for his family’s livelihood, Tobias and his wife Teresita were resigned that they could not provide a better future for their seven children.

But when Tobias tried raising water buffaloes, his family’s life changed. Money now comes easy and he is able to provide for the needs of his children.

Certain areas of his rice lands have been planted with grasses to feed his herd of water buffaloes.

The Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) acknowledged Tobias’ efforts and cited him this year as the agency’s “outstanding dairy farmer.”

In 2001, Tobias was among 25 farmers who formed the Simula ng Panibagong Bukas Carabao Dairy Cooperative in this city.

He attended trainings conducted by PCC for the raising of dairy water buffaloes and in the eventual dairying enterprise. That time, PCC was introducing dairy water buffaloes as a source of livelihood for rural farming families.

Tobias received from the PCC two Bulgarian Murrah buffaloes (riverine type buffaloes), which are ideal for dairying. Under the PCC’s project guideline, Tobias had to give back to the PCC the first offspring of the buffalo pair.

These buffaloes were different from the carabao, which is of the swamp-type water buffalo that is mainly used for draft power.

In 2003, Tobias reaped the benefit of carabao dairying. He was getting four to six liters of milk from each of his lactating water buffaloes.

In later years, his average milk harvest increased, getting as high as 12 liters a day per animal.

“It meant daily cash for us,” Tobias says. “I vowed then to give all my heart and energy to increasing the number of my animals and in honest-to-goodness business of dairying.

The carabao and the cow: A Filipino folktale

Through artificial insemination, which the PCC provided using extended semen from quality Murrah buffalo bulls, his herd of dairy animals grew.

He has now 21 purebred dairy water buffaloes and one crossbred, which he uses as draft animal.

Tobias was selected for the award for his practices in adhering to standards of good dairy farmers. These include proper animal management system, good physical conditions of the animals, sanitation, proper milk collection and delivery system, family participation, productivity and compliance to the PCC set of requirements.

Tobias, his wife and seven children have their shares of work for the upkeep of the animals and in the milking activity.

His four sons – Dennis, Russel, Aser and Wendell – help in taking care of the herd, in grazing them or in cutting forage for the animals, and in bathing them before they are milked.

Dennis, his eldest, has become a technician and veterinary aide through the trainings he attended. He takes charge of providing artificial insemination treatment and in other activities like pregnancy diagnosis, deworming and administering vitamins to the animals.

Tobias’ wife, three daughters and two daughters-in-law prepare the needs required before, during and after milking and in readying the milk for the milk collection by a business agent.

They also maintain cleanliness in the corral area and in updating records of the animals and their business.

“We work together. Even my youngest daughter already knew how to milk the carabaos even while she was in Grade 6,” Tobias says.

He said his two sons, who are married and with children, opted to stay in the farm where the animals are kept. The farm is some 2 km away from the family home.

“We can say that raising dairy buffaloes and dairying maintain our family bonding,” Tobias says.

At the peak of lactation period, the animals provide him a net income of P1,000 a day. There are “dry days,” when the Tobias family gets a daily income of P350.

“Carabao dairying is really a big help for us because it is providing us daily income for our expenses in the family and for our children’s school allowance,” Tobias says.

His milk produce is collected daily by an agent from the Nueva Ecija Federation of Dairy Carabao Cooperatives (Nefedco). It is bought at P35 a liter but he gets only P34 as the P1 goes to the cooperative as his savings.

Published in Philippine Daily Inquirer August 7, 2010