What do you do when calamity strikes? Like when a typhoon like Milenyo ravages your farm? One fellow we know who has a farm in Quezon refuses to visit his farm because he would only despair over the destruction of his fruit trees. But there are also others who would come up with immediate rehabilitation measures.
Just like Renato Belen of San Pablo City, for instance. When Typhoon Milenyo struck last September and almost totally destroyed the fruitful rambutan, bananas, durian and other high-value fruit trees in his 16-hectare farm, he had to think fast. He knew that in the next three years, he would not make any harvest from his fruit trees. Replacement trees would take at least three to four years before they will start bearing fruit.
So what did he do? He turned to high-value vegetables which have a short gestation period. His first choice were cauliflower and broccoli which are not commonly grown in the lowland such as San Pablo. He had earlier learned from the seed supplier that the White Baron variety of cauliflower and Top Green variety of broccoli grow under lowland conditions in the months of May to December. Will they also perform well in the hotter months of January to March? Anyway, he had to try planting them in these months to find out. And to his surprise, they came out with outstanding results.
His cauliflower produced big heads that weighed 450 grams to as much as 1,500 grams or 1.5 kilos each! They are even better than most cauliflowers grown in the highlands. His broccoli also performed exceptionally well. His cauliflower and broccoli plants were so impressive that his garden became an attraction in their barangay. Neighbors and motorists passing by could hardly believe that such vegetables could be successfully produced in San Pablo City. Groups of farmers from neighboring towns have also visited his vegetable garden.
Now, Belen is determined to grow high-value vegetables year round. He will plant cauliflower in at least half hectare. He has also added Diamante tomato, an all-season variety developed by East-West Seed Company, among the vegetables he is producing.
What’s notable about Belen’s vegetables is that they are organically grown. He uses purely organic compost from his own pig farm and he controls pests by using commercially prepared biological pesticides, including powdered chilli. He also prevents fungal attack by spraying his plants with vermi tea which has been proven to possess anti-fungal properties.
Belen also has an innovative way of preparing his plots for planting his vegetables. Instead of plowing the soil, he built upraised beds. He made use of his fallen trees by sawing them to produce lumber slabs which he used as frame for his vegetable plots. He filled the frames with compost produced from hog manure and other farm wastes. The plots measured 1.2 meters wide, 15 meters long and 20 cm high. To enhance the population of beneficial microorganisms in the plots, he sprayed the growing medium with a solution of LactoBac LAS-1 (EM) or effective microorganisms.
In the first four weeks, Belen watered his cauliflower and broccoli plants once in the morning and once in the afternoon. After that the plants were watered only in the morning up to harvest time. Vermicast or earthworm casting was also side-dressed one week after transplanting. Vermi tea was also sprayed on the leaves now and then. Also, he soaked a sackful of vermicast in water and used the water to water his plants.
Belen has other projects to increase cash flow from his farm. He has so far planted 2,500 Sinta papaya seedlings, planting the first batch of 1,500 last January 15, followed by 1,000 seedlings last March 10. Papaya is also a good money crop. The first harvest of ripe fruits is usually made eight months from planting the seedlings.
He is also preparing the seedlings of hybrid and aromatic coconuts. He intends to produce “buko” for sale on eight hectares. The coconuts will be intercropped with his high-value fruit trees. He expects to fully rehabilitate his orchard in four years.
Mean while, he will be depending on his high-value vegetables for his cash flow while waiting for his fruit trees to be productive. ■
“When Calamity Strikes”
Written by Zac B. Sarian
Source: Panorama Magazine
Agri-Talk Section (April 1, 2007 )
