ASU products featured in CHED-SUC fair

By Lelisa J. Teodosio, RMIS Representative

and Sally R. Villasis, RACG Representative

Aklan State University

On May 17–21, 2010, products from Aklan State University (ASU) through its Research and Development and Extension were showcased at the State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) Products Fair, a weeklong exhibit held during the Higher Education Week led by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) at the CHED Center Compound in Diliman, Quezon City.

One of the highlights of CHED’s 16th anniversary celebration in partnership with the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges (PASUC), the 2010 SUCs Products Fair showcased SUC’s products and technologies which they developed and produced. The fair also helped promote the flagship projects of SUCs and served as promotional activity to widen the market of their products in the country.

ASU’s variety of products featured men’s and ladies’ barong, gowns, bags and fans made of Aklan Piña. Other products exhibited were abaca slippers, bags, key chains, bracelets, cell phone holders and fiber sheets. ASU Food Processing Laboratory’s products included fruit juices, jellies, ginger tea, banana and camote chips and pickled nata de coco. The booth also carried fish products like deboned bangus (milkfish) from the ASU College of Fisheries and Marine Sciences, and ampaw (rice pop) produced by the recipients of Department of Science and Technology (DOST)-assisted project in the municipality of Lezo.

Representing the ASU team were Dr. Benny A. Palma, officer-in-charge (OIC) president; Dr. Danilo E. Abayon, executive director of ASU College of Fisheries and Marine Sciences; Dr. Elsa I. Abayon, director of Research and Development Services; Dr. Lelisa J. Teodosio, project leader of the Aklan Piña Project; Norma Quillano, project cooperator; and Arthur E. Jizmundo of the Extension and Community Services.

ANG KABAKLAN SANG AKLAN (WHAT SELLS AKLAN)

Visitors of the ASU booth featuring varied products and technologies (top photo) included (bottom photo) CHED Chairman Emmanuel Angeles (second from right) here being hosted by Norma Quillano (left) and ASU OIC President Benny A. Palma (right).

DTI grooms MS Tubongbanua for BFAD certification

By Niño Manaog

Regional Applied Communications

WESVARRDEC

2010 is level-up year for the mango processing technology of Rebecca Tubongbanua, Magsasaka Siyentista (MS) of the Western Visayas Agriculture and Resources Research and Development Consortium (WESVARRDEC).

And to prepare the farmer scientist for certification by the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD)—as requirement for export and bigger business expansion—the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Guimaras evaluated Tubongbanua’s mango processing technology and her new processing site on June 02, 2010 in barangay San Isidro, Buenavista, Guimaras.

The farmer scientist of the Farmers Information and Technology Services (FITS) Center based in the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) Guimaras, Tubongbanua’s mango processing technology underwent a detailed evaluation by the DTI team composed of Caryl Noquez, trade and industry development analyst (TIDA); Johanna Jamero, an alumna of UP Visayas School of Technology; and Ares Balcarse, a computer science major specializing on physical plants and layouts. The last two members were tapped by DTI Guimaras to undertake the BFAD preparations of the WESVARRDEC farmer scientist.

The DTI team helped Tubongbanua identify the stages in the process flow, and lay out the nitty-gritty procedures involving her mango processing technologies involved in producing dried mangoes, mango sauce, mango ketchup and mango concentrate.

IT TAKES TWO TO MANGO

The DTI team (from left to right: Caryl Noquez, Ares Balcarse and Johanna Jamero) pooled their expertise to assist MS Rebecca Tubongbanua (fourth from left, shown with her personnel) in documenting her McNester Food Products at her new site in barangay San Isidro, Buenavista, Guimaras.

Johanna Jamero helped Tubongbanua document the basic information on the manufacturing procedures needed to produce her McNester Food Products and the sanitation standard operation procedures (SSOP) in her processing site. Jamero also assisted Tubongbanua in identifying critical control points in the procedures—from the receiving of raw materials to processing to packaging and labelling and marketing of her products.

After conducting one-to-one consultation with Tubongbanua, Jamero declared that Tubongbanua has been observing quality control points which have helped her produce safe and quality food products all these years. Jamero added that the farmer scientist is prepared to undertake further improvements. MS Tubongbanua herself said there are more things to consider and accomplish, adding that she never expected much has to be done as the business already expanded from the backyard processing.

According to Ma. Carmen I. Iturralde, officer-in-charge of DTI Guimaras, DTI is willing to help MS Tubongbanua for “as long as she needs the agency.”

Situated on a 9,800-sq.m. lot in barangay San Isidro, the new McNester Food Products complex is a sprawling production site with much promise. According to Ares Balcarse, who evaluated its physical layout, MS Tubongbanua needs to comply with standards on structural layout of food processing business as per BFAD’s requirements. For instance, Balcarse’s recommendations included that MS Tubongbanua provide for more storage areas needed in her manufacturing procedures.

The DTI team also furnished Tubongbanua the lists of general and specific requirements needed in applying for BFAD certification.

Make organic fertilizer out of farm wastes, farmers urged

By Vishia Mae Dominic J. Tolcidas

Regional Applied Communications

FITS OPA Negros Occidental

WESVARRDEC

At the start of the planting season (for first cropping) this month, the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) Negros Occidental is urging farmers not to burn farm wastes but rather convert them into organic fertilizer.¬

Provincial Agriculturist Igmedio Tabianan said that for plants to grow healthy, wastes like rice straw can be used in them because they are rich in nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

A faster way to decompose rice straw and other farm wastes in irrigated farmlands is through the use of Trichoderma harzianum, a compost fungus activator, which could decompose it in only 3 to 4 weeks compared to the normal decomposition which takes several months. Trichoderma is pure culture grown in agar-oatmeal or coco-gel media.

Hays Do Not Make Waste

Rice straw found in farms like this in Valladolid, Negros Occidental could be used as organic fertilizer.

To make better compost, rice straws are evenly spread in the field and mixed with dried animal manure like chicken dung, and leaves of ipil-ipil, madre de cacao and hagonoy. Trichoderma is then mixed with water and sprayed to the wastes. In less than a month, the field is ready for planting. This Modified Rapid Composting (MRC) technology using Trichoderma is started right after harvest every cropping season.

“It addresses problems on soil nutrition and fertility, saves on production cost, and assures better income,” said Dr. Virginia Cuevas of the University of the Philippines Institute of Biological Sciences.

With MRC, production in a one-hectare farm could reach as high as 80 to 100 cavans of rice, according to the OPA Research Development and Soils Laboratory Services. Without MRC, it could only yield 69 cavans. OPA added that with MRC, net income is 3 to 4 times greater and return of investment is more than 300%.

Pilot organic villages are in barangays Inayawan in Cauayan, Daan Banwa in Kabankalan City, Asia in Hinobaan, and Mailum in Bago City. Other farmers groups and non-government organizations have been producing and using Trichoderma.

For technical assistance and more information on Trichoderma, interested farmers and researchers can visit the OPA Soils Laboratory along Gatuslao Street, Bacolod City.

FITS Banga field day features MS Andrade

By Salvacion Villasis

Aklan State University

Regional Applied Communications

WESVARRDEC

On May 27, 2010, the Farmers Information and Technology Services (FITS) Center hosted the Science and Technology-based Farm (STBF) Field Day on Darag Native Chicken featuring the technology of Magsasaka Siyentista (MS) Margarito Andrade, farmer scientist of the Western Visayas Agriculture and Resources Research and Development Consortium (WESVARRDEC).

Some 90 darag native chicken raisers and recipients of the Darag native chicken project of the Local Government Unit (LGU) Banga and farmer adopters in barangays Mangan, Pagsanghan, Libas, Venturanza, Lapnag and Sigcay—including faculty and staff of Aklan State University (ASU) and members of LGU Banga—joined the Techno Gabay team leaders from member agencies in witnessing the exposition of MS Andrade.

During the field day, MS Andrade shared his experiences in STBF on Darag Native Chicken, specifically on artificial incubation, brooding and indigenous feeding. According to Andrade, his STBF seeks to produce quality hardened chicks and chickens; use indigenous feeds; produce quality native (darag) chicken breeders; and showcase a self-sustaining native chicken project in the locality.

To address these purposes, Andrade designed an Alternating Current-Direct Current (AC-DC) incubator that can be operated with regular electricity. More important, the incubator automatically switches to a 12-volt car battery in case of power outage. The incubator automatically switches to normal electric power when power resumes. This innovation certainly facilitates uniformity in the eggs being hatched—not to mention the quality of eggs produced because of uninterrupted incubation. To date, Andrade has designed five models of incubators with capacities from 385 to 1,980 of eggs per setting.

MS Andrade has also been using some indigenous feeds for the mature chicken such as the leaves of the Marande tree (Trichanthera gigantea), duckweeds and golden kuhol, among others. Based on Andrade’s experience, the Marande tree can be an alternative source of fodder since the leaves contains some 18 to 22% crude protein (CP) in dry matter. Whether fresh or dried, the leaves of Marande tree can be fed to animals like chickens. The tree can also be dried up and mixed with feeds to promote rapid growth and development in chickens, rendering favorable effect to their growth performance.

In the forum, concerns raised by the farmers such as pests and disease management in the native chickens were answered by Dr. Elsa I. Abayon, technical expert and Dr. Rosalina R. Atos of ASU School of Veterinary Medicine.

According to Dr. Anna Mae C. Relingo, WESVARRDEC Techno Gabay Coordinator, the Darag STBF seeks to address the needs of the darag native chicken raisers and the interventions that will increase production and their income.

Edilberto Macahilig, secretary to Banga Mayor Antonio T. Maming expressed support, stressing on climate change and its impact on livestock production.

Meanwhile, WESVARRDEC Director Joseph Edward O. Idemne stressed that the STBF was realized through the partnership and support of every partner institution. Primarily of Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD) who established the concept. Idemne said that researches in science and technology are not only meant for the shelves, but for real people who must benefit from it.

Dr. Edwin C. Villar, PCARRD’s Director of Livestock Research Division said that the Council has been investing on the potentials of the Darag Native Chicken for quite a time in Region 6. Among all regions, Western Visayas is the only one that has recognized the native chicken as an important commodity. PCARRD is active not only in raising the darag native chicken but also in promoting it as an enterprise.

According to Villar, the STBF is PCARRD’s way of promoting the results of research investment that they have made. Through research they have seen that they can maximize productivity of the native chicken by using interventions like artificial incubation and brooding. PCARRD does not promote native chicken to compete with the traditional broilers—but considers it a special market in which poor farmers can participate to produce extensive products even for the rich.

Neither a techno demo nor merely about raising native chicken but on the effect of such an intervention, the STBF is essentially the kwento and the kwenta. Kwento is the story about what the farmer scientist did and the effect of his interventions and innovations, while kwenta must show that the interventions have given the MS additional income. If PCARRD sees some kwenta, after a certain amount of investment in the intervention, showing the income, then that completes the STBF story. Villar said that the field day is not the end of STBF. Rather PCARRD wants to have a second round of field day to validate whether what happened can be replicated in terms of kwenta.

Dr. Roberto L. Saladar, vice-president of ASU Research and Extension who represented Dr. Benny A. Palma, officer-in-charge of the ASU, expressed the role of the partner member agency—which is to support the project. Saladar also encouraged the farmers, saying that when there is “sipag at tiyaga,” there is development.

WESVARRDEC MS raises no-wash, antibiotics-free pigs

By Vishia Mae Dominic J. Tolcidas

Regional Applied Communications

FITS OPA Negros Occidental

Ever heard of pigs that do not take a bath for months? (Even just a day without proper hygiene befitting the future lechon would be pollution in its truest sense.)

Mr. Ramon Dayrit Peñalosa, Jr., farmer entrepreneur and owner of Peñalosa Farms in Negros Occidental is a recognized Magsasaka Siyentista (MS) or farmer scientist of the Western Visayas Agriculture and Resources Research and Development Consortium (WESVARRDEC) who sees no reason (because there is no need) to wash pigs. Neither do his neighbors see a reason to complain of foul odor, thanks to MS Peñalosa’s unique cultural management practices that make the farm almost odor-free and environment-friendly.

Peñalosa Farms are situated inside a machine shop compound at the heart of Victorias City and at the back of a big commercial center and in adjacent Manapla town in Negros Occidental. Hog raising here began by accident in 2000. When Peñalosa saw there was abundant kangkong planted in a swampy part of the compound, he thought of raising pigs that could be fed by the fodder.

Since then, the swine farm has grown bigger and become profitable owing to its swine-raising strategy using probiotics. Probiotics are formulations of beneficial organisms and enzymes as well as vitamins and minerals added to animal feed. Probiotics contains good bacteria that improve the immune system of the pigs preventing harmful bacteria to cause foul odor and diseases. Because of this, the swine farm requires no commercial disinfectant as footbath and no antibiotics except hog cholera vaccine. Probiotics allows for pigs that are no-wash, unlike the usual practice in commercial farms.

Wash and where

MS Ramon Peñalosa’s probiotics-based swine culture provides for a self-contained, self-sustaining livestock production that utilizes the organic production and takes advantage of its health-promoting benefits.

Through time, MS Ramon Peñalosa has made innovations, allowing hog manure to mix with rice hull that serves as flooring of low-cost pens made of semi-permanent and light materials. It is rice hull and not concrete flooring which are seen in most commercial and backyard piggeries. Underneath the rice hull are layers of biodegradable materials such as chopped banana trunks, mill ash, mud-press, shredded rice straw, sugarcane tops, fruit and vegetable peelings, leaves, and weeds found in the farm. These are allowed to decompose. After about 4 to 5 months or when live weight reaches 85 to 90 kilograms, the fattened pigs are harvested. So are the decomposed materials which are then made into organic fertilizer. This practice has turned to be a zero-waste, cost-efficient, and highly-productive and ensures better income for the farmer.

Peñalosa credits the success of his swine culture to probiotics, which is no trade secret. His generosity in sharing his technologies has gained him numerous invitations to speak on organic farming and probiotics before scientists, academicians, investors and fellow farmers.

According to Peñalosa, “Going into probiotic swine production requires a major change in the way a farmer would conventionally raise swine.” While feed preparation alone can be labor-intensive, it surely cuts costs and ensures quality meat products highly recommended for public consumption, the farmer scientist said.

Peñalosa’s integrated natural farming business is market-driven, doable, sustainable, and replicable. Currently the Magsasaka Siyentista of the Farmers Information and Technology Services (FITS) Center of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) of Negros Occidental, Peñalosa’s farms have become the most frequently-visited agri-tourism destination in Negros Occidental.