MANILA, Philippines -- On April 4, Pioneer Hi-Bred will inaugurate its P1-billion Tarlac Production Plant at the Luisita Industrial Park. The facility will be able to process more than 12,000 metric tons of corn and rice seeds at full capacity for drying, conditioning, packaging and warehousing.
The modern facility will require more than 7,000 hectares for field seed production so that it will be providing more income opportunities for farmers in Tarlac, Pampanga, Pangasinan and La Union who will be engaged as partners in seed production.
**** **** ****
Iraya Farms’ Scheme – Ben Picardo tells us that his Iraya Farms has partnered with Gawad Kalinga in leasing fully-irrigated rice lands from farmers. Iraya funds and manages the entire value chain from land preparation to harvest. Using improved rice farming techniques, they run these as corporate farms employing the farmer-landowners as partner laborers.
Picardo says that their primary goals are to socio-economically empower the marginalized farmers with the ultimate aim of curbing dependency on imported rice. Starting from poverty’s “ground zero”, Dolores, Eastern Samar, their demo farm yielded an average of 11.6 tons per hectare. Now they are expanding to Narra, Palawan; Bago, Negros Occidental, and Cabiao, Nueva Ecija.
**** **** ****
Liquid Plant Nutirents – Three formulations of liquid fertilizers from Agrifluids in the United Kingdom are now available in the Philippines through Jardine Distribution, Inc. (JDI).
The three are Omex Bio-20, Omex Calmax and Omex DP-98. Bio-20 is registered for use on crucifers (cabbage and its relatives), providing complet macronutrients (NPK 20-20-20) to help crops overcome stress conditions and maximize production potential.
Calmax, on the other hand, is a high calcium formulation (22.5%) with a balance of other nutrients to provide a sufficient source of calcium, a primary constituent of all cell walls and membranes in plants. Calmax helps improve the fruit firmness, storability, color and skin finish.
The third formulation, DP-98, is another complete nutrient source with high phosphorus content (37.8%) specifically needed for various processes in plants during their devel¬opment stage DP-98 allows for rapid kphosphorus uptake and absorption overcoming restrictive soil conditions at critical periods. DP-98 is recommended for crops like onions, garlic and leeks for which the product is initially registered.
**** **** ****
Natural Farming Seminar — Andry Lim will conduct a seminar on natural farming of vegetables, pigs and free-range chickens on March 28 to 30 at the Harbest Training Farm in Jalajala, Rizal.