Agri Plain Talk by Zac B. Sarian
Hands-on farmers know best. That is why it is always rewarding to talk to them. Just like retired Gen. Marcelo Blando of Sta. Maria, Pangasinan, for instance.
We had an opportunity to talk to him at a recent gathering and we were able to extract from him very useful techniques that our readers could as well use in their own farming.
Do you know, for instance, that he can extend the productive life of his native ampalaya to six monhts instead of the usual 3 to 4 months?
This is with the application of Biocozyme distributed by Sagrex, a Mindanao-based company of Ferdinand Marañon which is also active in distributing its products in Luzon.
Biocozyme, Gen. Blando explained, has nitrogen-fixing bacteria and also solubilizes phosphorus to enable the plants to absorb this important element. It also contains humic acid and microelements –which are also important for balanced nutrition.
Gen. Blando sprays Biocozyme together with calcium boron every 15 days. He says that the ampalaya plants would still be growing very well even when the bamboo trellis shall have collapsed about 8 months from planting the seeds.
Gen. Blando also has a solution if the malady called "namamarako" occurs in his ampalaya plantation. The symptom may occur as early as when the plant is one foot tall. When that happens, he recommends spraying the plant with Biocozyme and calcium boron right away. In most cases, the ampalaya will recover.
There is another problem in mango production whereby many of the fruits turn to what he calls "kasoy-kasoy". This is manifested by the young mango fruits assuming the form of the cashew nut, resulting in their eventual falling. Gen. Blando believes that this is caused by poor nutrition. Hence, he recommends the spraying with calcium boron and sufficient amounts of NPK.
We also gathered from Gen. Blando that Dole Philippines has already contracted three clusters of mango areas in Pangasinan under a novel scheme of management and sharing. The clusters are in Malasiqui, San Carlos and Sta. Maria.
Under the scheme, Dole takes over the management of the fruiting trees for five years. It takes charge of fertilizing, spraying against pests and diseases, pruning, inducing flowering, and harvesting. The contract is usually with individual farmers or with a cooperative whose members have a total of fruit-bearing mangoes numbering at least 3,000.
Dole gets 70 percent of the harvest while the owner gets 30%. Dole also buys the tree owner’s share if he so desires. The fixed price is
R25 per kilo for the first class; R15 for second class; and R10 for the small or rejects used for processing.
Gen. Blando has committed 600 trees that are 25 years old to the Dole scheme. He thinks it is a win-win situation. He does not have to spend anymore for inputs and management of his trees and he is assured of a reasonable market price even if there is a glut in the supply of fruits.
