In 8 months he recovered cost of new tractor
Mark Mercado who manages a diversified farm (rice, veggies and livestock) in Iba, Zambales is extremely happy these days. Why? He said that in just eight months, he has already recovered the more than R800,000 that he paid for his brand new 40-hp Branson tractor from the Korea Agricultural Machinery Industry Cooperative (Kamico), represented in the Philippines by Fitcorea.
He acquired the machine to facilitate land preparation for rice and sweet corn in the farm he is managing because there are times when labor is not available. Besides, land preparation by carabao power is not as thorough and not as fast as when it is done by machine.
He did not realize that so many of the farmers in the locality are also in need of fast and thorugh plowing and harrowing of their fields. And that has become a profitable service that Mark is rendering to his fellow farmers in Iba today. There are times when he and his son have to operate at night just so they can finish the job for their clients.
In the wet fields, Mark said he can finish two hectares in one day. If he is operating on dry land, he or his son can rotavate as many as four hectares in one day.
The Branson tractor, he says, is very comfortable and very economical to operate. For one hectare he spends about R500 for diesel and another P500 for the driver if he is not the one driving. For rotavating one hectare, he charges R6,000 or R12,000 for two hectares of wet paddy in one day. For fuel and tractor operator, the expense is R2,000 for the two hectares so he has a profit of R10,000 per day. It’s double that amount if he rotavates four hectares of dry land in one day. And that is the reason why he was able to recover his payment of more than R800,000 for his 40-horse power Branson tractor.
HOLE DIGGER – One new attachment to his tractor that Mark is so excited about is the auger for digging holes. It happens that he is enclosing his pasture for his 20 Brahman and Indu Brazil cattle, and in the previous weeks he employed as many as 20 diggers at a time whom he paid R250 a day, and they could only dig about 50 holes for the posts in one day. He felt they were taking it easy because they were paid on a daily basis and not on the number of holes they can dig. He figured out that he would spend a fortune just for the manual digging of holes for the posts for fencing about six hectares.
Fortunately, he came to know that Fitcorea has a hole digger that can be attached to the tractor. And you know what? One hole can be dug in less than five minutes using the auger that is attached to the tractor.
RICE HARVESTER – The combine harvester is another machinery that is making money for Heavenly Farm, the farm which he manages for his three uncles and an aunt based in the United States. Although it was intended for their own use, he used the harvester for harvesting other farmers’ rice crops. The share of the harvester is 10 percent of the harvest. Last season, the harvester got a share worth more than R800,000.
SWEET CORN – Another thing that excites Mark is growing Sweet Fortune, a new variety of sweet corn from Ramgo Seeds. He said he planted one hectare to this hybrid last planting season. He was very proud of the very sweet huge ears that he produced. He boiled some and sold them in Iba at R20 apiece. Some were sold as uncooked ears at R40 per kilo. Three ears usually weighed a kilo.
He soon realized that one hectare of sweet corn was too much for the Iba market. Much of the production could not be absorbed by the market. But that was a lesson well learned. In his next planting, he said he will just plant 500 square meters on staggered basis. He will plant every one or two weeks so he will be able to sell his harvest much more easily.
OTHER PROJECTS – Aside from crops, Mark is also growing native pigs, native chickens (Paraoakan) and catfish. He has learned to hatch catfish fingerlings.
By the way, Mark took up an IT course and for many years he was a member of a musical band that performed in various entertainment places. However, six years ago he gave up his musical engagements to become the manager of Heavenly Farm, a joint venture of his three uncles and an auint based in the United States. The farm is in Amungan, Iba, Zambales.