Inspiring stories in April issue of Agriculture mag
Watch for the April 2016 issue of Agriculture magazine and get inspired by the success stories from Vietnam as well as from the local front.
From Vietnam, you will read about how they manage to produce big volumes of jackfruit for export as well as for their local market. In dragon production, they really undertake large scale projects. In one place in Long An province, for instance, no less than 800 hectares are devoted to dragon fruit production in one contiguous place.
One company, MIT International, processes as many as 20 tons of jackfruit a day because there is sufficient supply from farmers in a province. And that is the reason why a Philippine supermarket chain has been importing frozen jackfruit pulp by the tons. That is something that it cannot procure in the Philippines because there is no single local source that can provide the big amount.
This should give an idea to our local Department of Agriculture and private entrepreneurs to come up with a program that will enable the country to produce jackfruit similar to what they are doing in Vietnam.
In the case of dragon fruit, the farmers have adopted good agricultural practices to maximize production. The farmers are irrigating the dragon fruit plants and also fertilize them adequately. This results in robust growth and high yields. In the Philippines, we have not seen dragon fruit farms irrigating their crops like they do in Vietnam.
There is also the Quynh Anh company in Dong Nai province which is producing a lot of fried fruits that are greaseless. They have a technique of removing the oil from fried fruits.
The Vietnamese are also fast adopting the new technology called IQF or instant quick freeze which freezes agricultural products in a matter of three to four minutes. This way, the frozen items retain their freshness and nutrients. These are great for the export market. When thawed, the products are fresh and don’t become soggy.
One company that we visited can quick freeze no less than 12.5 tons per hour. And they are currently doing baby corn, sweet corn, snack soybean and various vegetables for the export market.
In the local front, we have inspiring stories of enterprising farmers. Just like the all- women members of the cooperative in Solsona, Ilocos Norte which comes by the name of Nasalukag Women’s Multi-Purpose cooperative. They started their business in 1995 with a meager capital of R5,000. Today, they boast of assets of R9 million.
Another is the “bugnay wine revolution” in the tiny town of Adams in Ilocos Norte. The native wine has made the town famous. Make sure to get a copy of Agriclture magazine which will be off the press very soon.