Category: AGRICULTURE

Large Scale Tomato Production

Large Scale Tomato Production

 

There’s a demand for tomatoes all-year round and planting the crop is not really complicated.

           

Large scale tomato production could be one of the wisest decisions an agriprenuer could make. Planting tomatoes is not complicated and a sure market awaits this product, considering the year-round demand and its many uses. This vegetable is used in preparing salads, pickles, catsup, candies, sauce, juice, soups, fruit preserves, paste, vinegar and wine. It is served raw, baked, stewed or fried and can even be used as dog food. Its skin and seeds serve as animal feed, tomato flakes and medicine.

            You can choose from among the following varieties: Canbal, Ambal or Mati-kina, Pearl Harbor, Pritch and Rutgers, Homestead, Earlieana, Ace or Marglobe and Improved Harbor, a variety developed by the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) to withstand the rainy season.

            Tomatoes can grow on different soil types, from silt to clay loam or sandy loam. It needs warm weather and ample amount of sunshine to produce profitable yields.

 

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Carabao -The Beast of Burden

Carabao:  The Beast of Burden

By Henrylito D. Tacio

Madrid Agribusiness Digest

After the tamaraw, what animal is most likely to make it to the country’s threatened list?

            The carabao, that’s what. The Filipino’s beast of burden, forced out from the farm by mechanized farming, is now being pushed to extinction. Although there are no current records available from the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics, the carabao’s total population is steadily declining..

            “Unless we do something now, we might wake up one day an agricultural country without carabao to speak of,” warns a farming expert.

            The Philippine carabao is one of the many breeds of the water buffalo, sometimes known as an “Asian animal” since the region is home to some 95 percent of the world’s stock. The buffalo was first domesticated about 4,500 years ago, in China or the Indus Valley – perhaps at the same time – and “buffalo culture” spread gradually throughout Asia.

            There are two types of water buffaloes: The river type and the swamp type. The river type is exemplified by the Indian and sub-continent breeds. It considered under the dairy category because it possesses high genetic capacity for milk production.

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Cacao Growing

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Cacao Growing

 

Cacao is an important crop around the world.

                In the Philippines however, local cacao production is not enough to meet local demand. As a result, local prices, as in the world market, are continually on the rise.

                Locally, very few have ventured into large-scale cacao production, leaving local manufacturers of chocolate almost entirely reliant on imported cacao beans. If cacao can be grown more extensively, the country will save millions of dollars in foreign exchange.

                Research shows that large-scale cacao production through intercropping with coconut is feasible. Farmers used to shy away from this practice because of the belief that the pod rot disease of cacao is caused by the same fungus that causes bud rot in coconut. Experience and laboratory experiments have disproved such beliefs.

                Cacao beans have many uses. From its raw form, the beans are processed into cacao, either sweetened or unsweetened. They are also processed into liquor, butter, cake powder, paste, chocolate bars, candies, and confectioneries. Cacao serves as flavoring for pastries and ice cream and as raw material in the preparation of cosmetics and pharmaceutical products.

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Durian Pastillas

Durian pastillas

 

Ingredients:

4 cups durian pulp

2 cups evaporated milk

4 cups sugar

 

Materials:

Stainless carajay

Wooden spoon

Measuring cups

Measuring spoon

Mixing bowl

 

Procedure:

1.       Mix the milk and sugar.

2.       Cook over low fire, stirring constantly until the mixture is about to thicken

3.       Add durian pulp and continue stirring until the mixture forms into a hard ball.

 

Reference: The Philippines recommends for fruit processing and utilization

 

Source: Marid Agri