MANILA, Philippines -- The first session of the now-weekly Agri-Kapihan drew a big crowd last Saturday at the St. Vincent Seminary on Tandang Sora in Quezon City. This is the new venue of this farmers’ forum which in the past several years was held only once a month – on the last Sunday of the month. Almost 200 attendees graced the maiden edition of the Agri-Kapihan at its new venue.

Upon the suggestion of Agriculture Sec. Proceso J. Alcala, the Agri-Kapihan is now held every Saturday at its new venue where the AANI has its other weekend market besides the one at the FTI or Food Terminal Market in Taguig City.

The Department of Agriculture is now collaborating with the Agri-Kapihan management so that in every session, a representative of the DA will be there to discuss some of the programs of the government in the field agriculture.

Thus, last Saturday, Romy Ayos of the Bureau of Plant Industry discussed practical techniques in organic farming in the urban setting. He talked about the benefits of growing one’s vegetables in their home gardens, even where space is limited.

Incidentally, the attendees also saw the practical system of Dr. Eduardo Paningbatan of UP Los Banos who grows his vegetables and herbs in recycled soda bottles. The plants grow vigorous, thanks to his liquid fertilizer.

The other speaker at the Agri-Kapihan last Saturday was Dr. Reynaldo Itchon who discussed the possibility of growing the white chickens as free-range chickens. Ordinarily, only the colored birds and the native breeds are being raised as free-range chickens.

In the case of Dr. Itchon, he has successfully raised white chickens as free-range fowls in his farm in Santiago, Isabela. He has observed that the white chickens are also sturdy and can adapt themselves to free-range conditions. He said that before he was introduced to natural farming, Dr. Itchon could not believe that chickens could be raised without using antibiotics and other artificial drugs. He said that he uses herbal extracts to enhance the immune system of his free-range chickens so that they don’t easily contract disease.

He also feeds his chickens with azolla which grows abundantly in his fishponds. Other green feeds are also given to his birds.

Instead of the 35 days that the integrators grow their white chickens, he waits for two months so that the birds will develop enough muscle and thus they will be better-tasting.

The next Agri-Kapihan this Saturday, November 12, will focus on fisheries. A representative of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources will talk about their program in developing the fisheries industry, particularly the mariculture park projects. A member of the private sector, Dr. Rafael D. Guerrero III, former head of PCAMRD will also be a resource speaker.

Besides the speakers on fisheries, this editor will talk about success stories gathered in his visits to different farms in the country as well as abroad.

At the AANI Weekend Market where the Agri-Kapihan is held, the attendees will also be able to buy vegetables, rootcrops and fruits that are produced by the Dumagats in Montalban without using chemical fertilizers and pesticides. These include bananas, cassava, camote, ginger, turmeric (luyang dilaw) and many others.

Grafted planting materials of exotic fruit trees will also be made available by the Teresa Orchard & Nursery from Teresa, Rizal

Seminar on Urban Edible Gardens — A whole day seminar on “Urban Edible Gardens for Food Security” will be held on Saturday, November 26, at the Agribusiness Center of the Department of Agriculture in Quezon City. Speaker will be Perrine Collin, a Belgian who is with the Cabiokid Foundation based in Cabiao, Nueva Ecija.

Cabiokid Foundation is running a diversified farm operated under the so-called Permaculture System. Perrine will conduct a hands-on demonstration on vegetable planting in urban areas with limited space. She will discuss how best to utilize limited space for vegetables and other food crops with the use of plastic containers, tires, boxes, etc. She will demonstrate how to produce 40 kilos of camote roots in one cropping using two to three tires piled up in a small space.

During the morning session, she will discuss the concept of Permaculture, a system for organizing one’s garden. She will also take up management of resources in urban areas, how to harvest water, the clay irrigation system for a small garden, soil management, the theory on soil, different kinds of compost, concoctions for the garden, etc.

For inquiries, email: spreadorganicagriculture@yahoo.com.

Compressors Save Energy — There are more benefits from the use of compressors than one can ever imagine. This we learned from attending the Media Launch conducted by Atlas Copco, the world’s leading supplier and developer of compressed air technology. The launch was made at a posh Makati hotel where top executives based abroad like Stephan Kuhn and Chris Lybaert explained the latest developments in their line of business. Jonnie F. Regis who heads the local operation was also there.

Compressed air technology has applications in more areas of business than one can imagine. The technology is used in processing plants of foods and beverages, car factories, steel and aluminum industry, mining, semiconductor, airplane manufacture, etc.

Jonnie Regis explained that Procter & Gamble which is a manufacturer of a lot of consumer products has been saving about P6.6 million a year from electricity costs just by adopting the latest compressed air technology of Atlas Copco.

Stephan Kuhn believes that Procter & Gamble could even save more if they adopt the latest product they released only last April, 2011. This is the ZH 350+ Turbo Compressor with a capacity of 350 kw. It is a direct drive machine with active magnetic bearings.

Kuhn explained that because this latest machine has active magnetic bearings instead of the usual ball bearing, there is no friction, hence it is practically maintenance-free. As a result, an additional saving of 4% on energy cost could be achieved over their previous model. This is a big compressor which is designed for large scale operations.

For the latest in farming log on to: www.zacsarian.blogspot.com.