Meet Cavite’s ‘Dragon Fruit King’
DRAGON fruit farming is a lucrative business as exemplified by Silan Agri Farm in Indang, Cavite owned by Edilberto Silan and his family. Silan has been into dragon fruit farming for 20 years and is known as the “Dragon Fruit King” in Cavite and a pioneer in planting the crop in the country.
His wife Shirley, while gainfully employed at Senate of the Philippines, serves as in- charge of the farm’s book of accounts and in processing the dragon fruit into vinegar, wine, jam and soap. Daughter Shella, a former instructor at the Cavite State University in Indang, is the farm manager.
At present, three dragon fruit varieties sourced from abroad are being cultivated in the farm: Thailand’s red royal is known for its sweetness; Vietnam white variety is rich in vitamin C and tastes somewhat sour; and yellow variety from Australia, which was introduced by Silan in the market last year, has a blend of sweet and sour taste.
The family’s farming business earns substantial income from dragon fruit alone. During the 2019 cropping season, their 11-hectare dragon fruit farm yielded 10 tons per hectare.
“Who says that dragon fruit farming has nothing to do with the country’s agriculture,” Silan said.
The farm, with a total of 15 hectares, is also planted to tomato, bitter gourd (ampalaya), eggplant and other cash crops. Silan also practices intercropping with coconut and red lady papaya.
The farm also produces MD2 pineapple — the sweet variety from Del Monte Corp. — and tissue- cultured lacatan banana and rambutan. Silan also sells vermicast per month to vegetable growers in Cavite and Batangas.
Meanwhile, around 50 tons of vermicast is being used in the farm per year.
In August 2018, Silan Agri Farm was transformed into a Science and Technology- based Convergence for Agriculture and Tourism model farm and, as such, is supervised by Cavite State University in collaboration with the Department of Science and Technology’s Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development, Department of Tourism, and University of the Philippines’ Institute of Small-Scale Industries.