FAMILY FARM IN PALAWAN
WENT FROM GROWING FRUIT TREES TO RAISING CHICKENS DUE TO THE PANDEMIC
MANY FAMILIES go into farming for several reasons. The most common one is to find a source of income and food. But some families also farm to find an activity that brings them closer together while connecting with nature.
The latter is what inspired Rowell Rodriguez to start a farm in Palawan in the late 1980s. According to his daughter, Reina Ramirez, the farm was a family getaway rather than for income generation. The farm started with a few cashew trees before the family began breeding various animals and planting tropical fruit trees.
“Our father likes fruits very much and has a habit of collecting seeds of various fruits. One of his dreams is to provide his family with high-yielding fruits that they can enjoy for generations to come,” Ramirez said.
Rodriguez’s dream and the farm’s purpose changed when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the Philippines. Before the pandemic, the Rodriguez and Ramirez families were engaged in tourism-related businesses. They had to shift to farming as a source of income when quarantine protocols were implemented.
It was Reina’s husband, Edemin Ramirez, who came up with the idea of raising free-range chickens naturally to meet the demand for chicken meat in the province.
Together, the Rodriguez and Ramirez families formally established Rodriguez Integrated Farm in 2020 as the first and only source of naturally-raised, free-range chicken meat in Palawan.
A FAMILY THAT FARMS TOGETHER
Since present operations of Rodriguez Integrated Farm come from the efforts of both families, members from both share responsibility in managing the farm.
Rodriguez sits as the president and CEO while his son-in-law, Ramirez, acts as the director for their poultry section. Rodriguez’s daughters, Reina and Reiza, are the sales and marketing head and the administrative director, respectively.
“Our farm has two sections for poultry farming. One is the natural, free-range section while the other is the nursery for other heritage chickens,” Reina said.
The farm’s naturally-raised chickens are also divided into three sections for brooding chicks, adults, and layer hens. The chickens are provided with bamboo enclosures for shelter against extreme weather conditions and a netted pasture to protect them against predators while grazing.
The chickens are mostly fed with grains such as (small, broken particles of milled rice), GMO-free corn, and soya; greens like super Napier, mulberry, Azolla, and banana trunks; and fruits like papaya, fresh coconut, and banana.
“For medicine, we use a concoction of herbal remedies. No growth hormones are injected,” Ramirez said.
Chickens aren’t the only sight that can be seen on Rodriguez Integrated Farm. The family honored the patriarch’s farming efforts back in the late 80s by planting more fruit trees. Rodriguez Integrated Farm currently has 200 rambutan trees, 500 red lady papayas, and a few hundred lakatan bananas.
“Various fruit trees such as mangosteen, durian, and lanzones are also scattered around the property. Our most prolific crop so far is our Rongrien or Malaysian rambutan, which generated more than a few tons of fruits in the past three years,” Ramirez said.
Rodriguez may not have started the family farm as a source of income, but it became handy when the pandemic started. It also became an avenue for him and his family to bond while tending to the needs of the plants and animals on the farm.
Photos from Rodriguez Integrated Farm on Facebook
BY MANY FILIPINO households have been severely affected by the effects of the COVID-19 health crisis. The Pagkaliwagan family from Lucena City, Quezon Province is familiar with this situation. When the pandemic started affecting their livelihood, Jaquilyn Pagkaliwagan, 33, a former OFW in Taiwan, and her husband Ronniel Pagkaliwagan, 32, who works as technical support personnel in a factory, had to find an alternative source of income to make ends meet.
Seeing the opportunities and potential market for vegetables, the couple decided to venture into hydroponics farming last March 2020.
GROWING THEIR OWN FOOD
It has been a dream for Jaquilyn and Ronniel to build a greenhouse in their backyard for food production, but it was only recently that they have finally turned that vision into reality. Their greenhouse measures 60 ft in length, 21 ft in width, and nine ft in height. They called their farm Nawawalang Bukid (Lost Farm) because aside from being distant from the town’s center, many of their customers often get lost when visiting the greenhouse.
Nawawalang Bukid’s main crop is lettuce. The lettuce varieties that the farm produces include lollo bionda (green) and lollo rosa (red leaf), Red Rapid, frillice (a variety mixed of the iceberg and curly endive lettuce), batavia or summer crisp, and romaine varieties like Tyrol romaine. Jaquilyn said that customers mostly avail of the lollo bionda variety for its crunchy texture.
Aside from lettuce, they grow sweet basil, pechay, and strawberry using hydroponics as well. While they also grow sitaw, okra,
eggplant, saluyot, squash, patola, upo, kamote, chili pepper, and cucumber in a separate vegetable patch in their front yard. When tending to this 500 sqm vegetable garden, Jaquilyn gets help from her father-in-law Ronilo since her husband has returned to his work in Laguna and only goes home twice a month.
When asked why they grow these crops, Jaquilyn said that these are the food that they eat and the crops that they can sell given their high market demand. The family consumes the produce, but most of the harvests are for sale. They gather about 1200 heads of lettuce twice a month. Each lettuce head is P15 while value-added products like veggie fruit salad and crab rolls cost P130 per tub. They acquire a monthly income of P28,000 from selling these products. The Pagkaliwagans also save P10,000 in monthly food expenses since they grow their own veggies.
So far, the only challenge they encountered in cultivating lettuce has been the uneven growth and discoloration of leaves. To fix this, they upgraded their potting medium to a mix of vermicast, rice hull, and cocopeat. In hopes of maintaining a growing space that’s free from insecticides, they do not apply any harmful chemicals to their crops. Instead, they manually remove pests, should they see any.
In growing lettuce, choosing the right location is crucial since lettuce needs six hours of sunlight per day. Because of this, they also use grow lights to prevent the lettuce from getting leggy due to lack of sun exposure. Based on their experience, using grow lights helps in the growth of their leafy veggies. Keeping the veggies in the right conditions and planting medium contributes a lot to the success of lettuce production. Use a hydroponic solution that’s cost-effective and easy to use, Jaquilyn added.
The couple plan to add more greenhouses for strawberries and blueberries. Opening a samgyupsal restaurant on-site while serving their fresh leafy vegetables to customers is what the couple envisions for the near future.
Photos from Jaquilyn Pagkaliwagan