If you are interested in farming, gardening or anything related to agriculture and fisheries, better attend the Agri-Kapihan that is held every last Sunday of the month from 8 to 11 a.m. The place is at the courtyard of radio station DWWW, No. 23 E. Rodriguez Sr. Blvd., Quezon City. It is open free to everybody.

People who have attended the forum for the first time last month confess that they should have attended earlier sessions because they have found the lectures of hands-on farming and gardening practitioners to be very informative. During the Agri-Kapihan last April 25, Philip Chiu, a Singaporean, demonstrated practical ways of economizing on water for irrigating plants in the home and in the farm.

An average of 200 farming enthusiasts attend every Agri-Kapihan. Sometimes, it could be 300 or more. Men and women, young and not-so-young, are regular attendees. There are professionals who are farming on the side as well as full-time agribusiness operators. Many are hobbyists.

The Agri-Kapihan is a convenient place to meet people in different lines of farming. Some are die-hard believers in high-value crops that include various hybrid vegetables and exotic fruit trees. There are also people interested in livestock and poultry. Free-range chicken has become popular with attendees, many of them usually taking home chicks bought from Solraya Enterprises.

Oh yes, there are products that can be bought by attendees right at Agri-Kapihan. Among the most popular are the ready-to-plant seedlings of hybrid papaya, eggplant, tomato, different varieties of pepper and others.

Of course, there are also planting materials of exotic fruit trees such as pummelo, imported varieties of mango, makopa, rambutan and others.

Then there are organic fertilizers like Durabloom, the vermicast of Mapecon, Advance organic foliar fertilizer of Green Philippines, Biozome trace elements and many others.

Agri-Kapihan, by the way, was started in 1986 by yours truly. It is now a project of the radio program Kaunlaran sa Agrikultura aired every Sunday morning from 4:30 to 7:30. It enjoys the full support of DWWW boss Bert Bacsal who himself has a mango farm in Sta. Cruz, Zambales.