Pinoyagribusiness

What’s so special about Organic Farming?
By pinoyfarmer | August 2, 2007



In the olden days, there were no chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Everything in farming and livestock and poultry raising was done according to what nature can give.

Chickens were fed with palay and were free to hunt for their own food. Hogs were fed with palay husks, vegetables and assorted leaves of available plants. Palay crops were fertilized with chicken manure and pig wastes. So with vegetables and fruit trees.

Since the beginning of time all foods from plants were grown organically. Synthetic chemicals were used only in the last 50 years to cope they say with the growing population. But health and environment problems cropped up that these days organic food farming is back again on the heels of genetically modified organism (GMO) and getting popular again. One such popular organic organization in the Philippines is the Organic Producers Trade Association (OPTA).

So what is organic farming? According to OPTA: “Organic foods are grown according to nature’s own recipe- full of fresh flavor and good nutrition without pesticides that damage the environment.”

One member of the OPTA is Ever Rich Farm Corp. in Santiago City, Isabela where its produce are served at the Deli Fresh Resto at the Carpark Bldg. Shangri-La Plaza Mall in Mandaluyong City. Both the farm and the resto are managed by Eva Rose Pua, a BSBA Major in Management and Finance graduate and a jeweler for 15 years before becoming an organic farmer.

At the Deli Fresh, one can relish the first “certified organic chicken” in the country. These free-range chickens are raised in harmony with nature, devoid of any antibiotics, vaccines and steroid and feed with organically grown grains and cereals. Ms. Pua describes her offerings as “Food to live by – organic from the very beginning.”

Its vegetarian entrée and all other organic goodies certified as “pesticide free” coming from all over the Philippines are: organic salad greens and herbs from the highlands of Tagaytay and Laguna; organic veggies from the Coldilleras; organic rice from Nueva Ecija: indigenous rice from Nueva Viscaya and Ab; organic corn and soya from Cagayan Valley; and a variety of nicely packed food stuffs and fresh seafoods from the Visayas and Mindanao. Their drinks are also from organic fruits.

What is certified organic? To earn the label “certified organic” the food products must meet strick standards, from the seeds right through growing, harvesting and being sold in the grocery store, markets and supermarkets. Each organic farm is inspected to be sure that only approved organic methods are applied. Farm owners must have practice organic methods for three years prior to certification and they must also meet strict requirements of handling foods and their operations must be examined annually by independent inspectors.

Source:
Ramon Ma. Epino (October 24, 2004), The Philippine Star

A Salad Sensation
By pinoyfarmer | August 2, 2007



Silang, Cavite — about a year ago, three friends took a leap of faith and shed their corporate suits to go into farming. They pulled their early retirement windfall to put up a P9-million business called Hydrent Ventures lettuce farm.

For former Bank of the Philippines Islands executive A.S. Tanjanco, former Unilever marketing guy Nestle Jeturian and information technology specialist Tonito Vargas, there is a lot of potential in agriculture.

Rather than go into cash crops, the group decided to grow lettuce, a high-value commercial crop at their 1.3-hectare farm. They harvest every 45 days about 3,000 kilos of six leafy lettuce varieties – red and green oak, lollo rossa and lollo biondo, waldmans greens and green ice and romaine. Soon, other vegetables like salad tomato and bell pepper and herbs such as basil will also be grown.

Why lettuce? “First, you don’t need a big land to be profitable. It’s a high-value crop, which means higher margins. We understood many are still not used to eating salads, but there is a very big niche market, especially in Metro Manila, so we decided to tap that. Most of the vegetable salads are still being imported and we can produce that and sell it at more reasonable prices,” said Tanjanco who is the group’s director for business development.

The crop is grown in two big greenhouses using the highly-efficient hydroponic method which ensures that the lettuce are grown in a sanitized and controlled environment to eliminate the need for harmful chemical-based pesticides and contaminants. The farm also hosts a post-harvest facility where the goods are packed, washed, handled, sanitized, and chilled.

IT expert Vargas designed a computer-controlled irrigation system that provides the crops with exactly what they need in terms of nutrients, exactly when they need it.

“Unlike the traditional form of organic farming which carries the risk of bacterial infection by using compost materials for nutrition, hydroponic farming ensures that only the required nutrients found in compost material are transmitted in soluble form through driplines in the greenhouse. This ultimately means clean, safe, fresh and high-quality produce,” said Tanjanco.

The greenhouses are equipped with humidity-controlling misters and fans, allowing for-round production that eliminates the seasonality normally associated with high-end crops..

Jeturian said the group did its homework before venturing into lettuce farming.

“We went to several provinces such as Cebu, Bukidnon and many other places. It was a learning experience. For instance, there are also other mens of growing lettuce other than our hydroponic method which is more expensive but which, I believe, produces better quality lettuce.

We did our market feasibility study, we wanted to make sure that we had a market. Looking back, we should have initially done trading. So we not only looked for a market, we created a market as well,” said Jeturian.

Hydrant Ventures now supplies supermarkets such as Shopewise (Libis/Makati/Alabang/Araneta) and South Supermarket. It also delivers to hotels such as Dusit Hotel, Pan Pacific Hotel, Heritage Hotel, Manila Hotel, Astoria Plaza, Hyatt Hotel & Casino, Richmonde Hotel, Great Eastern Bellevue Hotel, Traders Hotel, Manila Diamond and Westin Philippine Plaza. Some of the restaurants and bars it supplies are Windows Café, Gourdos Café & Restaurant, Lumiere, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Oliver’s Super Sandwiches, Bizu Patisserie, kulinarya, Masas, Cena, Palm Country Club and Vargas Kitchen.

The risk they took are paying off and has spun two other businesses- Heartlands Slad Sensations and farm consultancy.

Heartlands Salad Sensations offers different kinds of salads with lettuce as the base ingredient. The salads are prepared by a chef and delivered to business establishments in Quezon City, Ortigas, Pasig, Mandaluyong and Makati.

“We are getting about 150 orders daily. We were riding on fitness conscious Filipino looking for an alternative to mostly unhealthy fastfoods. By creating a ready-to-eat salad line we created another market,” said Jeturian.

The salad comes in two packages – regular and big, The big ones costs P100 and the regular is priced at P75. Orders are made over the phone or through text message placed a day ahead because they prepare the meals at night in time for delivery the next morning. (For inquiries on Heartlands Salad Sensations text 0917-8556971 or e-mail salads@hydrent.ph)

The group also forayed into farm consultancy which involves the setting up of high value farms and systems both for the government and private sectors. Their current projects include the creation/enhancement of farm-to-market systems in Cebu for local farmers in cooperation with the local government and a livelihood project in San Manuel, Pangasinan in partnership with San Roque Power Corp.

Sources:
ROCEL C. FELIX (November 7, 2004), Philippine Star