Some farmers are more creative than you and I think. They have very practical ideas that make their brand of farming look so easy. Just take the case of Benito Magaling of Lipa City who was harvesting two tons of “Pangsigang” pepper when we interviewed him several years back. His technique looked so simple yet effective. This is his story. Benito used to be a big-time hog and poultry raiser but he gave up animal production when feeds became too expensive and so was the cost of controlling diseases. So he shifted to growing the finger pepper called Django, a very prolific variety from East-West Seed Company. He rented two hectares near his home for his pepper project.
TWO TONS EVERY DAY – He planted his seedlings in early June and started harvesting late August of that year. By September, he had to harvest two tons (2,000 kilos) every day to meet the requirements of his buyers in Divisoria and in the Tanauan market. This is how he did it. He divided the two hectares into seven lots. From each lot, he harvested 2,000 kilos daily. How did he do that? He hired 20 women pickers who started picking early in the morning. By noon, each one would have harvested a hundred kilos. That’s a total of two tons. And each one got paid P170 for their half day of work. Magaling had enough time to deliver his harvest to his customers in the afternoon. He said that his buyers paid him P50 per kilo so that he grossed P100,000 every single day that he harvested. The daily harvest lasted till early January the following year. HOT PEPPER FARMER – Ernesto Romero of Talavera, Nueva Ecija is another practical farmer. He is an agriculture graduate who grows many kinds of vegetables. One favorite crop is the hot pepper more popularly known as “Tingala”. This crop will remain productive for a long time as long as the harvesters are careful in picking the small hot fruits.
Romero hired harvesters on a long term basis. Every three days, they go to his farm to pick the ripe fruits. The pickers are paid according to the number of kilos they harvest. So the tendency is to pick the fruits in a hurry, oftentimes breaking some of the productive branches in the process. To avoid the possibility of damaged branches due to their hurry in picking the fruits, Romero assigned specific rows of pepper to each harvester. True enough, the harvesters took special care of the rows assigned to them. FOSTER MOTHER PIGS – We remember the late David Remandaban of Tacloban City whom we interviewed more than 30 years ago. We remember how he distributed the piglets of some mother pigs to foster parents so that the female breeder can be freed from nursing her piglets and so she can be bred again one month earlier.
This is how he did it. He usually induced 10 mother pigs to become in heat at the same time so that they also give birth at the same time. This can be done by treating them with a hormone. When the pigs gave birth three months, three weeks and three days later, he took away the piglets of two mother pigs and distributed them to the others that have given birth at the same time. Usually, two piglets would be distributed to each foster mother pig. Some people would say that the foster mother pig will not accept what is not her litter. That could be true but David had a practical technique so that the mother pig will not recognize what is not hers. After birth, David placed all the piglets in one pen and let them mix together for some time. After that, the piglets are distributed to the mother pigs for nursing. By that time, mother pig will no longer recognize which one does not belong to her. Log on to: www.agrizaccess.com for practical farming tips, bright ideas and interesting agri-people.
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