MINI TRACTOR DOING BIG JOB — It makes a lot of sense to mechanize farm operations for a number of good reasons.

The garden people are cooking something new. Instead of the usual garden show, they are coming up with a Country Fair right in the heart of Quezon City.

The group is the Cactus and Succulent Society headed by Dorie S. Bernabe. Together with the Quezon City government they are going to stage the Quezon City Country Fair at the Quezon Memorial Circle on October 18 to 21.

This will be open free to the public because the organizers want it to be accessible to everybody, especially the school children. The event is designed to be educational and one which will give the city-bred children a taste of something rural.

There will be a cluster for the Friends of AANI which will include exhibits of small farm animals such as goats, sheep, free-range chickens, Pekin duck, native pigs and the like. There will be cooking of native pig lechon, lechon tupa (sheep) and others.

The Friends of AANI will make available for sale fruits and vegetables, planting materials, organic products and many more. There will also be a panel of experts that could be consulted on topics in farming and gardening.

The group of Fred Salud will also be conducting a dog show while the group of Lino Rom who are into ornamental plants will have their own special presentations.

Toto Barcelona and his colleagues in the seed business have booked for ten booths where they will be showcasing their latest hybrids of vegetables and other high-value crops.

Of course, the Cactus & Succulent Society will stage educational exhibits of their favorite plants. There will be lectures and demonstrations and one of the things they will give special attention to is the dragon fruit which happens to be a cactus.

The dragon fruit is increasingly becoming popular with growers who produce it commercially. The fruit is nice to eat as fresh fruit and is also claimed to have medicinal properties.

Another succulent that will be given attention is the giant aloe vera and other cultivars that have economic uses.

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HOTLINE FOR FREE PIG SERVICE — These days there are still very valuable services that farmers can get for free. Just like the free hotline that Uno Feeds has launched recently.

This Uno Feeds hotline gives backyard hog raisers free access to expert advice and education to enhance their pig business. Backyard raisers in Luzon can get over-the-phone assistance regarding their problems in their pig project, even if they are not users of Uno Feeds.

According to Jonathan Dino, agents and veterinarians of Uno Feeds are on standby to accommodate callers and provide them with professional solutions, from information about Robina Agri Partners’ products to instructions on the frequency and dosage of medication to be given to animals.

Dino, who is the URC Agro-Industrial Group marketing director, said that if the hog raiser needs help, they can send somebody to the raiser’s doorstep within 24 hours. Technical services such as pig tusk removal, tail docking, castration, and administration or injection of medicines will also come without charge.

The hotline is also available to breeder referrals for those looking for gilts or boars, piglet referrals for those looking for piglets to breed or to fatten, and viajero referrals for those selling their pigs.

For more information email info@robinaagripartners.com.

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NEW MANTRA FOR FOOD SECURITY – At he recent Asean Media Forum on Food Security in Singapore, Pratibha Thaker of the Economist Intelligence Unit said there is a new Mantra on Food Security.

A few years ago, the mantra was: “If you feed a man a fish, he will eat for a day. If you teach him how to fish, he will be able to fish for the rest of his life.”

With the rising population, the New Mantra is: “If you teach me to farm, educate, provide good input, and organize, then whatever the challenge I can join together with my peers and we will fashion our own solutions.”

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