New Farm Technologies that Work
Perhaps, nothing could make inventors happier than to witness how their inventions have helped people.
This is what unsung Filipino inventors Alfonso Puyat and Engineer Walther Alvarez must have felt when the Villa family’s farm in Nueva Ecija expanded after they dared to adopt the unpopular technologies that these inventors developed.
Ricardo and Nenita Villa used to harvest 100 to 120 cavans per hectare from their 45-hectare rice farm in San Fernando Norte, Cabiao. But when they learned that Fernando Gabuyo of San Jose City was averagely harvesting more than 300 cavans per hectare from hybrid rice, they became curious and wanted to harvest more.
They asked Gabuyo what technology he was applying and he referred the couple to Puyat who developed Xemas, Anaa, X-rice, and Trace Elements. Puyat later introduced them to Henry Lim Bon Liong of SL Agritech who developed the SL8 hybrid rice, and they taught the couple how to use the hybrid rice technology.
To further help her husband, Nenita broadened her knowledge on farming by attending seminars on hybrid rice technology sponsored by the Department of Agriculture in Region III.
Now, 90 percent of the Villa farm is allotted to hybrid rice production and the couple is harvesting 150 to 200 cavans per hectare in the wet season and more in the dry season. Moreover, the couple had a contract with Henry Lim Bon Liong who will purchase their hybrid rice for a competitive price.
Aside from hybrid rice farm, the couple has also a broiler production business which their son Aris help them manage. The family has been growing 54,000 broilers in pursuant to their broiler production contract with a company, and 14,000 broilers for the family’s poultry business.
They regularly harvest broiler chickens weighing 1.5 to 1.7 kilograms each, the standard weight that the contractor requires, at 43 to 45 days growing time. They clean and disinfect their poultry houses for a month before they start growing another batch of day-old chicks.
Like what happened in their rice production venture, the couple desired to expand their poultry business and it started when Nenita heard from a radio program that a feed additive called Atovi, which the Bureau of Food and Drugs has approved, has amazing effects on poultry.
Always curious about a new and effective technology, the couple sought Atovi’s inventor, Engineer Alvarez who explained to them that Atovi recharges and re-energizes the cell potentials inside the mitochondria for a better performance of the cellular system. Through this, there will be a better response and absorption of medicines and nutrients.
They started applying Atovi last year but only to their commercial stock and the result was astounding. Their broilers weighed 1.7 kg in just 32 to 35 days. The average mortality rate also dropped from 12 percent to 5 percent even with abnormal weather condition which causes heatstroke, and the cleaning and disinfecting period for the poultry houses was reduced to 10 days.
These are the reasons why the Villa family plans to expand their poultry business using the B’15-million loan from the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF). They will use the loan to construct double tunnel-ventilated poultry houses with a capacity of 56,000 head.
The Villa family also has a piggery farm which has a capacity of 200 sows. They sell five-month-old pigs weighing 90 to 100 kg. But when they started feeding their pigs with Atovi, the pigs weighed 90 to 100 kg. in just four months.
And when hog cholera, swine influenza, and Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) hit Bulacan, Pampanga, and Nueva Ecija, their “stock was not infected. However, Aris said that the epidemic still affected their business for it pulled down the demand for pork which resulted in low price.
On the other hand, their piggery still benefited from Atovi. The couple said that their costumers informed them that their pork and chicken were tender, fluffier, and tastier than the meat of the livestocks which were not fed with Atovi. They also noticed that the wastes of their stocks feed with Atovi dry in just three days, has a distinct texture like the commercial organic fertilizers, and doesn’t have an odious odor.
Unlike farmers who believe that swine wastes are hot on plants and couldn’t be used as organic fertilizers, the Villas apply it in their hybrid rice farm at a rate of 50 bags per hectare. They integrate it with Xemas during land preparation.
Aside from Atovi, the Villas have started using organic aqua feeds concoction, which Alvarez also developed, for their two-hectare tilapia fishpond. In five months, their tilapia, which has also a distinct taste like their pork and chicken, can be harvested already and three to four pieces of which would weigh a kilo.
They will sell these tilapia, chicken, pork, and organic hybrid rice and vegetables in their commercial outlet which is being constructed in Quezon City.
With the way things are going, one could say that Ricardo and Nenita’s agribusiness have really gone far. And a big part of the couple’s prosperity should be attributed to Puyat and Alvarez. If not for their hardwork, the technologies that the couple and other farmers enjoy wouldn’t be a reality.
Doc.is this product recommended for livestock production?
