‘Behind a man’s success or failure is a woman.’ So goes the old adage. And true enough, the success of Renato Belen, proud owner of Ato Belen’s Farm in Brgy. San Juan, San Pablo City, Laguna could be attributed to a woman, his wife Eleanor.
Eleanor Amante–Belen (Ellen, as most of her friends would call her) graduated in 1975 at CA with the degree of BS Agriculture, major in Animal Science. When she was still a student at CA, her family owned a livestock farm known as the Amante Farms which housed 350-400 sows and 10,000 heads of chicken. At that time, the late Dr. Valentino G. Argañosa, a professor of the then Institute of Animal Science (now the Animal and Dairy Sciences Cluster) was conducting a study on the “Performance of Different Piggery Farms in Laguna,” of which the Amante Farms was one of the study sites. As influenced by Dr. Argañosa, Ellen made her thesis outline with the title, “Study on the reproductive performance of Amante Farms.”
Matters of the heart came early to Ellen. At the age of 20, although she was still an undergraduate student, she got married to Renato (Ato) Belen, a US Peace Corps. Upon the request of Ellen’s father, Ato resigned from his job and the couple helped in managing the Amante Farms on a full-time basis. However, Ato and Ellen were not satisfied with just being employed. Driven by their ambition of having a farm of their own, they’ve decided to put up one.
In 1987, a certain Garry Gesmundo ordered from the couple 3,000 seedlings of coffee which they germinated from berries harvested in the Amante Farms. Later on, Vicente Amante (now mayor of San Pablo City) also ordered 5,000 seedlings of coffee. Inspired by the good turnout of sales, the couple started propagating seedlings of coffee, rambutan, and lanzones at an area of 200 sq.m. with an initial capital of P700 and just one hired worker.
Health problem somewhat hampered their farm operation in 1996 when Ellen had undergone a kidney transplant. As per doctor’s advice, she had to lie low from the Amante Farms. Since she has a passion for cultivating different crops, her father assigned her to his land planted with coconut. From then on, the couple started propagating plants in bigger volumes. From their earnings out of the sales of propagated plants, they expanded their operation by including the fruits from their orchard as another source of income.
The husband and wife relationship in managing the Ato Belen’s Farm is worth emulating especially to people with similar businesses. While Ellen conducts experiments in the farm in partnership with UNILAB and East–West Seed Company, Mang Ato handles the personal relations or promotional aspect. The experiment with UNILAB concerns production of a Yucca extract to be used as a deodorizer and composter by the said company while that of East West Seed Company is geared towards the production of new variety of ‘Sinta’ and red lady papaya. To further increase her technical knowledge, Ellen reads a lot of books and magazines in agriculture. Any new technology that her husband wants to try, it is Ellen who does the research to determine if the technology is technically feasible and economically viable.
To date, the Ato Belen’s Farm has gone a long way in its 23 years of existence. With a 1.3 hectare area and 15 people as labor force, it now operates as a one-stop shop. What makes it different from other farm enterprises are the following: a.) It has a scion grove located in one of their sites where mother trees of high value fruits like rambutan, lanzones, durian and pomelo are planted their scions and grafting. b.) They produce their own organic f e r t i l i z e r / compost which they use in the farm and for sale at P180 per kilo. c.) They also p r o d u c e vermicast and vermicompost, fermented fruit juices (FPJ) and fish amino acid (FAA) as foliar sprays, effective micro organisms (EM) as deodorizer for piggery farms, dogs, cats and other animals and as foliar fertilizer for fruit trees and other plants. d.) They have a 70-sow piggery farm which serves as source of raw materials for compost production; her parent’s piggery farm of 400 sows also serves as additional source of raw materials for compost making. e.) They also have demonstration beds of various vegetables around the farm like cauliflower, broccoli, pepper, lettuce, eggplant, pechay and ampalaya. f.) They breed dogs, different kinds of birds and ornamental fishes which are being managed by one of their sons.
Just like any other business venture, Mang Ato and Ellen have availed loans from the bank for additional capital. Through the loan, they were able to put up another deep well in the nursery, planted various high value crops in the scion grove and increased their sows from 20 to 70.
Ato Belen’s Farm is now a ‘word of mouth’ in the orchard industry. The couple acknowledges the major role of media in promoting the farm. They are grateful to the likes of Louie Tabing and Gerry Geronimo of the broadcast media and Zac Sarian of the print media. From North to South, people from the farming industry, entrepreneurs, academicians, students and even celebrities are captured by the lure of Ato Belen’s Farm. Likewise, students from different colleges and universities in CALABARZON and Central Luzon conduct their on-the-job training in this farm.
As regards their priority plans, the couple hopes to put up a bigger building for their organic compost production, acquire machineries to make their production mechanized and build a water system (with overhead tank) in one of their sites.
Ellen is glad that their hardships and sacrifices have paid off. The income from their farm enabled them to send their six sons to college. Her eldest son is an agriculture graduate from CA. She has two doctors (a nephrologist and a neuro psychiatrist on his junior year). The fourth son is an Agribusiness graduate at UPLB, the fifth one is a BS Computer Science graduate and the youngest son is an engineer. Aside from that, they were able to acquire 20 hectares of lot from their earnings in the orchard.
When asked what made them successful, Ellen readily quipped, “One must be hardworking, determined, patient and should learn from his/her failures.” She added that one should have personal supervision of the farm and the right attitude to produce right action.
Her further advice to aspiring entrepreneurs: Do not be afraid to borrow money from the bank since no ideas can be translated into reality without appropriate funds. Just make sure that such money is put into good use. Do not keep farming secrets. It is more fulfilling if these are shared. Never stop dreaming and learning from others. Success is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failures. “Remember that right attitude produces right action”, she concluded. ■
“The Woman Behind The Success of Ato Belen’s Farm”
Written by Imelda M. Gesmundo and Apolinario L. Lantican
Source: Aggie Green and Gold of UPLB CA
(Vol. XI No.III – July-September 2010)
