Take it from 46-year-old Nestor Kalaw of Brgy. Plaridel, Lipa City. If you want to succeed in farming, you have to plant, plant and plant some more. Nestor is a successful vegetable producer who loves to plant in a big way.

He stresses that if you don’t plant at all, you will miss the jackpot if the price is high. Even if the price is low, you will still have some income if you have planted something. Of course, sometimes it could be a losing proposition but then that’s only once in a while.

Sometimes, Nestor plants on his own. Some other times, he and a partner undertake the planting. His most profitable joint venture with a partner was the planting of Diamante tomato on three hectares in 2006. Diamante is a high-yielding all-season tomato. It happened that they were able to sell their harvest at P45.45 per kilo or P1,000 per carton of 22 kilos. From that project alone, he and his partner made a net profit of P1.5 million each from the three hectares in a growing period of less than four months.

When he sees a good variety, he would really plant it in a big scale. Just like the new D-Max variety which is an improvement of Diamante in terms of size and resistance to virus. He has just ordered about P150,000 worth of seeds plus 90,000 seedlings from East-West Seed Company for planting this May.

Area for planting is no problem for him. There are so many farms available for rent in Lipa City. Right now, he has plantings in five barangays in Lipa.

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Coming events. The Los Baños Flower & Garden show will be held on April 23 to May 3 at the Seniors Social Garden, UP Los Baños. Aside from orchids and ornamental plants, attendees can buy planting materials of fruit trees, according to Dr. Benito S. Vergara, one of the organizers.

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Mango Congress. The National Mango Congress will be held on April 27 to 29 at the Bohol Convention Center in Tagbilaran City. Attendees will come from all over Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The latest developments in mango production, processing and marketing will be discussed. A tour of interesting mango farms will be held on the last day.

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12th Dairy Congress. The Dairy Confederation of the Philippines will hold its 12th Dairy Congress and Expo on May 14 to 16 at the Camarines Sur Convention Center in Naga City.