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.

================================================

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.

---

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

Vegetable patches turn into vital teaching aids for kids 

By Ma. Salve Duplito

Philippine Daily Inquirer

Filed Under: Education, Food, Children

AGRIPINA D. BRILLO, 61, has spent more than half of her lifetime educating children in Nueva Ecija’s public schools.

As principal of Kaliwanagan Elementary School in San Jose City, she has never seen school-based vegetable gardens stir up any interest in this sleepy town where farming is the main source of livelihood. That has changed dramatically in the past year.

Behind the school’s two small buildings are rows of red, ripe tomatoes grown by the children themselves, with the help of their teachers and parents. There are also bottle gourds (upo), sweet and hot pepper, pechay, and eggplants. A modern nursery sits serenely on one side, with young plants sprouting from seedling trays.

The students, awed by what their hands have done, line up for gardening tools every day – eager to see their experiment through. They are excited to eat the vegetables they have grown.

Teachers come to school even on weekends to water the garden. Parents bring soil fattened by their livestock’s excretions to help out. Although the area has no perimeter fence, Brillo says, not one produce has been taken from the garden since they started.

In all the time we have been gardening, we have not really been productive. It is really different when the methods are modernized, we can see the difference,” says Brillo in Filipino.

The modern garden is a corporate social responsibility project of East-West Seed Company Inc., a Dutch-Filipino firm that sells hybrid tropical seeds locally. It also has sister companies in Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, India, and China. One of the reasons for the community’s buy-in into Tanim sa Kinabukasan (TSK) is its active partnership with the mayor’s office, the Department of Agriculture, public elementary schools, parent-teacher associations, and the Synergeia Foundation.

“We can teach our children how to love nature and how to nurture the earth until our voices are hoarse, but that method will never equal what we can do by showing them how it should actually be done. Children learn best by experience,” says Dr. Mary Ann P. Sayoc of East-West Seed.

The method is working. Dar Dexter L. de la Cruz, an 11-year-old Grade 5 student, says his family also plants tomatoes in their farm, but he’s more excited to see the fat and healthy plants he and his classmates have grown in the school’s garden.

In the classroom, De la Cruz and his classmates learn crop and land management, preparing the land, planting, fertilization, water management, peso management, harvesting and marketing, organic farming, and nutrition. But the secret to the effective learning strategy is that the kids actually do what they learn inside the classroom. East-West Seed provides kid-friendly flipcharts and handouts that make everything fun and interesting.

When it’s harvesting time, the teachers and students sell the produce in front of the school. There are cooking contests and recipe exhibits to draw in the community. The community gets access to fresh, cheap vegetables – and the money is pooled to buy educational supplies for the children.

Organizers hope that the project will promote food security, good nutrition, and create livelihood opportunities in San Jose.

 

SC upholds ban on land use conversions

By Dona Pazzibugan
Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court has upheld the temporary ban imposed by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) two years ago on the further conversion of agricultural lands for commercial uses in order to protect the country's dwindling rice lands for agriculture and agrarian reform.

In a ruling issued last June 18, the Supreme Court's First Division unanimously agreed that DAR was right to impose a moratorium at the time when the country was caught in a global rice shortage crisis.

The high court dismissed the petition filed by the Chamber of Real Estate and Builders Associations (CREBA), an umbrella organization of about 3,500 companies and individuals in the real estate business, questioning Memorandum No. 88 issued by former agrarian secretary Nasser Pangandaman on April 15, 2008.

In that memorandum, the DAR secretary temporarily suspended the processing and approval of all land use conversion applications nationwide due to public alarm that the unabated conversion of rice lands for housing projects has worsened the country's dependence on rice imports.

CREBA claimed DAR suspended land use conversion without any basis.

But the Supreme Court declared that CREBA's argument that the memorandum was unconstitutional “stands on hollow ground.”

“It bears emphasis that said Memorandum No. 88 was issued upon the instruction of the President (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) in order to address the unabated conversion of prime agricultural lands for real estate development because of the worsening rice shortage in the country at that time,” the Supreme Court said through Associate Justice Jose Perez.

“Such measure was made in order to ensure that there are enough agricultural lands in which rice cultivation and production may be carried into. The issuance of said Memorandum No. 88 was made pursuant to the general welfare of the public, thus it cannot be argued that it was made without any basis,” it continued.

Other members of the First Division who concurred with the decision were Chief Justice Renato Corona and Associate Justices Presbitero Velasco Jr., Teresita Leonardo-De Castro and Mariano Del Castillo.

In the same ruling, the Supreme Court affirmed DAR’s “exclusive authority” to decide on applications for the conversion of agricultural lands to residential, commercial and industrial uses.

The high tribunal set aside CREBA's claim that the DAR Administrative Order 01-02 issued on Feb. 28, 2002 by then agrarian reform secretary Hernani Braganza was not valid.

In that AO 01-02, the DAR laid down rules to regulate the conversion of agricultural lands to non-agricultural use and to identify lands that were wrongly exempted from coverage of the agrarian reform law.

DAR declared that agricultural lands covered by agrarian reform are those that were “not reclassified as residential, commercial, industrial or other non-agricultural uses” before June 15, 1988 when Republic Act 6657 or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law took effect.

CREBA insisted that DAR had no authority to expand the legal definition of the term “agricultural lands” through an administrative order.

But the Supreme Court claimed that DAR only “made clear what are the lands that can be the subject of DAR’s conversion authority, thus serving the very purpose of the land use conversion provisions of RA 6657.”

This means that any reclassification of agricultural lands made after June 15, 1998 required DAR's clearance for conversion.

“Having recognized the DAR’s conversion authority over lands reclassified after 15 June 1988, it can no longer be argued that the secretary of agrarian reform was wrongfully given the authority and power to include ‘lands not reclassified as residential, commercial, industrial or other non-agricultural uses before 15 June 1988’ in the definition of agricultural lands,” the high court said.

It reiterated a previous ruling recognizing the agrarian secretary’s “exclusive authority” to classify and identify lands either for conversion or for agrarian reform coverage.

Conversion meant changing the current use of an agricultural land into some other use, while reclassification involved specifying how agricultural lands shall be utilized for non-agricultural uses under a land use plan, subject to the requirements and procedures for land use conversion, according to the court.

It stressed that reclassification alone would not be enough legal procedure to use the agricultural lands for other purposes, and a conversion process would be needed to change the current use of reclassified agricultural lands into non-agricultural use.

“For reclassified agricultural lands therefore to be used for the purpose to which they are intended, there is still a need to change the current use thereof through the process of conversion. The authority to do so is vested in the DAR, which is mandated to preserve and maintain agricultural lands with increased productivity,” said the Supreme Court.

Even the reclassification of agricultural lands to non-agricultural uses such as school sites through presidential proclamations needed conversion clearance from the DAR, according to the court.

Bamboo craftsmen heed the call of the homeless

By Rosa May de Guzman
Philippine Daily Inquirer

POLOMOLOK, SOUTH COTABATO—ON A busy street here, men with wrinkly hands would pound, curl, shape and bind pieces of bamboo and nipa or straw to produce a “bahay kubo” (thatched hut).

The bamboo workers here are building little straw huts for the thousands who were left homeless following the crippling storms that had hit Luzon late 2009.

When Malacañang offered flood victims little straw huts to replace the houses that were lost during the storms, that announcement caused quite a stir here among those whose livelihood largely revolved around bamboo.

“Maybe we can help them [flood victims] since we are the most highly skilled workers in the country,” says Ronilo Apitong, echoing the sentiments of other craftsmen who wish to build huts for the homeless.

Inspired craftsmanship

Master builders here have displayed original and inspired craftsmanship, acquiring quite a reputation among the rich and poor in South Cotabato and beyond.

The workers painstakingly handcraft chairs, tables, beds, cabinets, and decorative products of every shape and design. They have also honed their skills in building nipa or straw huts, each with two beds, a porch and small kitchen.

Some of the attractive huts that they have built now line a highway here, inviting motorists to slow down and admire the craftsmen’s handiwork. Many have since bought their very own bahay kubo from the ingenious craftsmen.

As a “green” resource, bamboo has immense practical uses among the craftsmen based at Crossing Palkan in Polomolok, just behind a massive pineapple estate at the foot of Mount Matutum.

Once hard up, the village of Crossing Palkan is now known as the bamboo craft capital of the Philippines—as many as 5, 000 residents depend on bamboo for their livelihood, from farmers, cogon growers and builders to capitalists and merchants.

Multimillion-peso industry

Apitong became a craftsman only about a year ago. He says business is now great and prospects appear to be bright.

Apitong’s only regret, he says, is that his family did not jump into bamboo crafting right away, unlike others who had decades ago.

The bamboo trade at Crossing Palkan has since become a multimillion-peso industry. Apitong estimates that the industry may grow even further over the next five years because of an increase in demand while prices have likewise risen. Some bamboo products now fetch as much as P45, 000 apiece. To meet the demand, farmers in South Cotabato’s upland villages have been advised to grow more bamboo and cogon grass.

Apitong, who is also the village chief, aims to further boost the industry and provide livelihood for 350 poor families before his term ends.

It may sound ambitious, but for Aljon Marquez, a father to four, Apitong’s plan is realistic and attainable.

With P30, 000, two workmen can finish a hut in 15 days. That hut may then be sold for up to P45, 000, depending on its size.

Surge in demand

The craftsmen at Crossing Palkan are themselves the designers and engineers.

“We also look at the trends. Maybe, in the next few years, we hope to make floor tiles, table tops and panels,” Apitong says.

There is now a surge in demand for bamboo huts. The craftsmen were able to ship about 20 huts to Japan.

“This is the only business that most people here are familiar with. Most of us believe that bamboo homes are attractive, but only a few people in the cities are aware of this. We do use the right kind of bamboo. This is important for the business,” says Apitong.

Asked what pushed people to patronize this once poor man’s timber, Apitong says bamboo is now seen “as an ideal green structure that may curb the threat of climate change.”

He adds that bamboo “has become a sustainable replacement” at a time when illegal logging is rife.

The best coffee now comes in an instant pack

By Tina Arceo-Dumlao
Philippine Daily Inquirer

LIPA, Batangas— After serving the Philippine Air Force for 25 years—which meant several brushes with certain death— Alexander Ilagan certainly deserved to sit back and just relax upon his early retirement at 43 years old.

But being idle did not suit the retired sergeant and intelligence officer well. He was just too used to putting in an honest day’s work.

So instead of just lazing about and living on his government pension, Ilagan finally did what he had always wanted to do, which was to put up his own business. And not just any business, but one that involved his beloved Batangas brewed coffee.

“The best coffee still comes from Batangas,” Ilagan declares in Tagalog.

It can be difficult, however, to prepare Batangas coffee the right and the traditional way. You have to boil the water just right, for instance, to bring out the full flavor of Batangas’ Barako beans.

Ilagan says the process could indeed be quite tedious, which is why most settle for instant three-in-one coffee in sachets or coffee from vending machines, thus missing out on the full-bodied flavor of a piping hot cup of Batangas coffee.

Ilagan, who is justifiably proud of his province’s coffee, then asked himself how he could make it easier for most Filipinos to have their fix of Batangas style of coffee.

He pondered over this question during his last 10 years of service in the military and his big break came one fateful day when the serious coffee drinker found himself drinking herbal tea that promised him good health.

“I realized it was so easy to drink the tea because you just put the bag in hot water. Then I said to myself, this is the solution to the problem! I should also put coffee in a bag,” says Ilagan, who drinks about eight cups a day of Barako coffee.

To actually do so, however, is much more complicated than just putting ground coffee in tea bags, as Ilagan found out to his chagrin after going full time into his fledgling business.

“First, I had to find the right kind of bags for the coffee, then I had to find a way to properly seal the bags because they burned easily. Then, the most difficult part of all was to come up with the right mix of ground coffee to make sure I can provide that unique Batangas taste,” says Ilagan, who credits his wife, Merlita and their three children for inspiring him to pursue his passion.

Ilagan, now 58, would shut himself in a room and come up with his own concoctions during his early days as an entrepreneur, guided only by his instincts and taste for Batangas coffee that he has been drinking for as long as he can remember.

“I would experiment with different types and mixtures. Sometimes, I would find myself waking up in the middle of the night to try a new combination. I had to go through a lot of trial and error,” says Ilagan, who admits that there were many challenges along the way that almost made him quit.

Even his family had their doubts about the future of his business. After all, the idea of putting coffee grounds in a teabag had not been tested in Batangas. His unshakeable belief in his idea, however, pushed him to carry on.

When Ilagan came up with the combinations that passed his own taste, he had the older folk of Lipa—who certainly knew their coffee—taste them.

The mixture that got the most votes eventually became the basis for Xandro’s Food Repacking, which came into being in his backyard in Villa Monica Subdivision, Lipa City Batangas in 2005.

“I just had two people when I started. I did almost everything and sold the coffee myself, bringing them to bank employees and doctors, encouraging them to give the coffee a try,” Ilagan says, “Because they liked the taste, the orders started coming in.”

Thus, from producing just a few bags of coffee three days a month, Xandro’s now produces 100 boxes or 1,000 bags of coffee a day.

Xandro’s—which comes in Original 2 in 1 (coffee and sugar) Puro (no sugar) and Premium (with muscovado or raw sugar)—are distributed in different outlets such as Hotel Pontefino in Batangas, Rowena’s in Tagaytay City and the showrooms of the Departments of Trade and Industry and Agriculture.

His own children are his best sales and marketing people, bringing boxes of coffee for sale in their offices in Manila. Their collective effort, he says, has allowed them to earn a good profit and save enough to buy a commercial vehicle and improve their home.

Ilagan has even been recognized by the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship, through its Go Negosyo campaign, as one of the most notable entrepreneurs in Batangas and one of the country’s most inspiring microentrepreneurs.

“The award really surprised me. I did not expect that I would be recognized along with other people who had so much bigger enterprises than mine,” says Ilagan, whose trophy from Go Negosyo occupies a special place in his home, inspiring him to do even more.

Ilagan says he was happy that after four years, Xandro’s is now making an impact on the country’s growing coffee market, if only for the fact that the additional demand gives the Batangas farmers more reason to plant coffee again instead of other crops such as rice and sugar.

Ilagan goes around the coffee farms in Batangas himself and buys the best cherries from the farmers at a price higher than that offered by most traders. And he tells them he would buy more so they should produce more.

“I really want to help the farmers because we should not lose our tradition with coffee. There is still nothing like coffee from Batangas,” says Ilagan.

As for competition, Ilagan says copycats have already sprouted since they could also see the potential of brewed coffee in tea bags.

But he remains unfazed.

“They could all copy my idea, but I can guarantee that it will not taste the same,” says Ilagan with a grin, “If they could answer why I use three different grinders to prepare my coffee, then I’ll start getting concerned.”