Rx For PH Agriculture – Go Native, Go Nature! Go Na!


For PH Agriculture, nobody is asking for my advice, so I’m giving it!

Go Native, Go Nature – Go Na!
And:
Yes to Export – No to Import!

Here are 2 major losses in PH Agriculture today – mango to “kurikong” and pig to African Swine Fever, ASF.

Mango: I can’t find data for export losses, but it has been reported that “kurikong” can cause 70 to 100% loss in yield[1] – that translates to your loss in export. Here is indirect data: Gabriel Cardinoza reports in Inquirer.net (17 March 2018) that Lito Arenas, former President of the Federation of Mango Growers & Handlers Association of Pangasinan, and others visited Guangzhou City in China and “were surprised there were no Philippine mangoes being sold there.” That translates to zero export.

Pig: “There are opportunity losses for the hog industry estimated at about P1 billion ($19.5 million) a month,” Noel Reyes, spokesman for the Department of Agriculture, DA, is quoted as saying[2]. Huge!

For swine, go native!

In March 2016, the book I edited was published by the National Swine & Poultry Research & Development Center, NSPRDC, of the Bureau of Animal Industry, which is under the DA. It’s all Philippine Native Animals. The NSPRDC is specializing on native breeds of cattle, chicken, duck, goat, horse, and pig. Center Chief Rene Santiago says with native stocks, animal raisers can produce quantity and quality meats that are “good for both producers and consumers” (Prologue, page 18).

Today, in PH swine industry, even the disease of pigs is imported: African Swine Fever. So: The solution is indigenous – grow any of those native lines of pigs originating from Abra, Benguet, Kalinga (above image), Marinduque, Mt Province, and Quezon. UPLB Emeritus Professor Angel Lambio says they are “resilient to stresses and resistant to pests and diseases” (Foreword, page 24). Also, the meats of natives are healthful and have distinctive desirable tastes. Excellent for export. Stop importing swine breeds: Go export, Go Native!

For mango, Go Nature!

For mango, I said in a previous essay[3] that we have first to resolve the “kurikong” menace by preventing the infestation of cecid flies. We must look for the system whereby mangoes are grown with at least one other crop, which must be native, so that the balance of harmful and beneficial organisms is maintained.

On the mango image above (from Pinoy Negosyo[4]), I superimposed the question, “What’s missing here?” The orchard is all mangoes. Monoculture. Do you know who loves monocultures, other than farmers or gardeners? Insects! They have so much food that they naturally multiply – into an infestation.

So, the problem with the infestation by cecid flies or the “kurikong” headache is man-made. Minimum predators, maximum pests. You get what you deserve!

The solution is either multiple cropping, or intercropping, or trap cropping. Grow other fruits or vegetables. Mother Nature will then balance the populations of predators and pests for you. My middle name is Awareness; this is a free lesson not from Frank A Hilario but from Science.@517







[1] https://business.mb.com.ph/2020/02/22/infestation-threatens-phs-mango-production/
[2] https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2019/10/26/1963442/philippine-hog-industry-losing-20-million-monthly-asf
[3] https://ithewizardofos.blogspot.com/2020/02/to-resolve-ph-mango-kurikong-menace.html
[4] https://www.pinoynegosyo.net/business/mango-fruit-tree-business-735.html

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wizard Of Os

Image
In rethinking Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie’s “New Thinking for Agriculture” with its embedded “Eight Paradigms,” today Thursday, 23 January 2020, I came to the realization that we need to  add  a Wizard of Os if we are to succeed in one of the prime goals of the new PH Agriculture:  Entrepreneurship . Yes! The 5 Os are:  Obstacles, Opportunities, Options, Outputs  and  Outcomes  - proceeding from production to marketing. That is to say, to train anyone senior, adult or young, on entrepreneurship, one must teach and go through the 5 Os.  Obstacles.  What are the problems, complexities, lacks, insufficiencies that may be encountered along the way from old knowledge or new idea to the start of production up to marketing?  Opportunities.  The obstacles must be viewed some other way. They may be re-viewed in perspective so that the opportunities may be discerned. Or, thinking out the obstacles, what are the scenarios, openings, prospects that can be conside
Read more

Redesigning PH Agriculture – Science-Wise, Ilocano-Wiser!

Image
You are looking at The Bridge to Prosperity found in Asingan, Pangasinan – Ilocano-wise.  How do you like it: That your Secretary of Agriculture, William Dar/Manong Willie, is an agriculturist and Ilocano? That your science writer, Frank A Hilario, is an agriculturist and Ilocano? That the Ilocanos are known to be industrious and frugal? I love it! Except: We Ilocanos are not frugal in farming. We Ilocanos have to be taught what we already know! To do that, for my hometown of Asingan, Pangasinan, I have been thinking of an agri-tourism program with our Nagkaisa Multipurpose Cooperative’s 4.2 hectares of land down the Sinapog Bridge (beautiful scene above). Under the bridge, Nagkaisa has authority over those hectares. The other day, I discussed with Nagkaisa Chair Roger Daranciang my proposal for a “Farmer-Friendly Agriculture, Ilocano-Wise” techno-demo program involving Asingan’s 21 barangays. When you find the formula for prosperity, please multiply it! Not
Read more

In Onions, There’s Strength, In P Millions! – How To Make That Ideal Real? Do The IMOD

Image
IMOD. William Dar/Manong Willie as head of the Department of Agriculture, DA, avidly leads his “New Thinking for Agriculture” where an embedded ideal is Inclusive Market-Oriented Development, IMOD. If you want farmers to rise from poverty and stay up there, you must do the IMOD.  IMOD as the ideal for local & national growth was developed at ICRISAT, based in India, when Manong Willie was Director General, from January 2000 to December 2014, 15 years – IMOD as ideal became real. So, if you want your farmers to be blessed with “Masaganang Ani, Mataas na Kita” ( Bounteous Harvest, Bountiful Income , my translation), the current mantra of the DA , you must do the IMOD. With IMOD, the development is real – distributed to everyone, especially the poor farmers. IMOD as ideal: “Find the ideal in something not ideal” – Robert Denning [1] . As a farmer, is it ideal to think rich? You have to think rich; you also have think real. Now, let’s consider Eva Visperas’ 09 Januar
Read more