Agriculture and Aquaculture Industry

[JoelVasquez]

Aquaponics is planned to be used in conjunction with Vertical Farming and Renewable Energy to achieve ZERO WASTE or almost zero waste. That is in the US. Can we do something similar to this in the Philippines?? Fully integrated, self-sustainable, energy efficient system. Singapore - has built their ZERO Energy Building. Can we beat them to it by introducing a self-sustainable energy and food production included?

Please check out side below.

http://www.thebioenergysite.com/news...ces-zero-waste

www.facebook.com/philippine.aquaponics
www.facebook.com/groups/philippineaquaponics

[jpdm]

Singapore firms eye Phl fruit products



By Czeriza Valencia
(The Philippine Star)
Updated June 03, 2012


MANILA, Philippines - At least five big supermarket and retail companies in Singapore have expressed interest in Philippine fruit and fruit product exports such as Cavendish bananas, pineapples, coconut sugar and coconut water, according to the export promotion arm of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

Malacañang earlier announced that the country is eyeing alternative markets for bananas – one of which is Singapore – to help local banana growers affected by the stricter entry requirements imposed by China, which claimed to have found pests in the fruits from the Philippines.

These Singapore-based companies are supermarket chains NTUC Fairprice, Sheng Siong, Carrefour, and shopping centers Takashimaya, and Mustafa.

Data obtained from the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), a sub-agency of the DTI shows that to date, Philippine fruit exports have gathered 761 inquiries following the country’s participation to the Food and Hotel Asia (FHA) 2012 expo held in Singapore from April 17 to 20.

CITEM, at present, is still negotiating the inquiries, some of which came in post-event.

CITEM executive director Rosvi Gaetos said onsite sales of Philippine fruit and fruit product exports reached $8.54 million.

The trade show drew over 40,000 visitors from 91 countries. Most of the trade visitors came from the airline, cruise, and rail food service; hotel, restaurant and catering; hospitality consulting and hotels; supermarkets and groceries; and industrial sectors.

Ten local firms participated in the trade expo in Singapore. These are: Agrinurture Inc. which grows fruits and vegetables (Cavendish bananas, mangoes, pineapples, coconuts) for export as well as processing into canned juice and frozen products.



Brandexports Philippines, Inc. which manufactures dried mangoes, coffee, suchero coconut sugar, tropical fruit cocktail in cans, tropical fruit juices and purees, canned coconut milk/cream, desiccated coconut, coconut milk powder and Filipino food assortment.

Green Heights Agricultural Corp. which grows Mt. Fuji-brand Japanese rice, Koshihikari variety; Hi-Las Marketing Corporation which produces fresh mangoes, frozen mangoes, frozen puree, dried fruits, fresh okra, and mango concentrate.

Marigold Manufacturing Corp. (Mama Sita) which manufactures the well-known Mama Sita’s mixes and sauces; Market Reach International Resources which processes candies, Filipino ethnic food, sauces, condiments, chips, noodles, and beverages.

Also, Megafishing Corp. which manufactures Mega Sardines in jitney cans and pouches, dried fish, and bottled sardines; Philippine Grocers Food Exports Inc. which manufactures assorted consolidated products such as beverages, snacks, frozen food among others.

TBN Food products which manufactures assorted food items; and Universal Canning Corporation which manufactures canned seafood under the brands Master, Family’s, Atami, and Mikado, as well as dried and frozen fish.

China has begun accepting Philippine banana exports but demand has been low.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx...bCategoryId=66

[wolfram74]

Aquino fails to meet land reform target
June 2, 2012

MANILA, Philippines—They risked their lives for his mother in the twilight of the Marcos regime and voted him for president in 2010 but now more than 5,000 peasants from across the country are marching on Manila because the Aquino administration supposedly has chalked up a record in agrarian reform that is worse than all the other post-Edsa administrations.

(snipped)

[Greenfield]

Its about time the country should diversify its export market for our agricultural products. We should at the same time diversify our export products and domestically, make our country self-sufficient in food.

[Parchie]

Originally Posted by Greenfield

Its about time the country should diversify its export market for our agricultural products. We should at the same time diversify our export products and domestically, make our country self-sufficient in food.

Having a brain fart lately?

Diversifying involves looking for other agri crops to be planted, grown and then be exported! Then you said "make our country self-sufficient in food". When you decide to plant a different crop for export, you take away a portion of arable land that used to be planted with staple crops of our countrymen! Did people miss a lot here?

[jpdm]

Originally Posted by Parchie

Having a brain fart lately?

Diversifying involves looking for other agri crops to be planted, grown and then be exported! Then you said "make our country self-sufficient in food". When you decide to plant a different crop for export, you take away a portion of arable land that used to be planted with staple crops of our countrymen! Did people miss a lot here?

I think you are the one farting here by posting this stupid manure reply.

Its so easy to understand @greenfield's post and expectedly you came up again with another nonsense reply..

[jpdm]

Originally Posted by Greenfield

Its about time the country should diversify its export market for our agricultural products. We should at the same time diversify our export products and domestically, make our country self-sufficient in food.

Yes, if China rejects our banana export (together with Australia), then we can explore other market like Iran and Singapore as mentioned in recent news.

Surprisingly, aside from our traditional agri-exports like abaca, banana, pineapple and copra , we are now in limited quantities exporting organic rice.

More lands especially those idle lands owned by the government(sprawling military camps and other government agri-lands in the provinces) should be harnessed and planted with food crops. So far we are doing well with rice, corn and other staple food due to the rehab of irrigation system and support from the dept of Agriculture.

[Nabartek]

Dream ko makatikim kahit Philippine cavendish man lang (I understand hindi matagal ang shelf life ng Lakatan) at Philippine mangoes. Fruits from Central and South America and Mexico just suck (bland taste). To be blunt. Suerte lang nila at may NAFTA at CAFTA at masmalapit sila.

[Greenfield]

Originally Posted by jpdm

I think you are the one farting here by posting this stupid manure reply.

Its so easy to understand @greenfield's post and expectedly you came up again with another nonsense reply..

Originally Posted by jpdm

Yes, if China rejects our banana export (together with Australia), then we can explore other market like Iran and Singapore as mentioned in recent news.

Surprisingly, aside from our traditional agri-exports like abaca, banana, pineapple and copra , we are now in limited quantities exporting organic rice.

More lands especially those idle lands owned by the government(sprawling military camps and other government agri-lands in the provinces) should be harnessed and planted with food crops. So far we are doing well with rice, corn and other staple food due to the rehab of irrigation system and support from the dept of Agriculture.

Find this @parchie guy's post either empty or plain rubbish.

Originally Posted by Nabartek

Dream ko makatikim kahit Philippine cavendish man lang (I understand hindi matagal ang shelf life ng Lakatan) at Philippine mangoes. Fruits from Central and South America and Mexico just suck (bland taste). To be blunt. Suerte lang nila at may NAFTA at CAFTA at masmalapit sila.

Hopefully, Dole Philippines will help bring Philippine bananas and other fruits in the Americas.

[Nabartek]

Originally Posted by Greenfield

Find this @parchie guy's post either empty or plain rubbish.



Hopefully, Dole Philippines will help bring Philippine bananas and other fruits in the Americas.

it will be hard. we face stiff competition from central and south america and think of it, they have free trade agreement with the US. given our distance, it will make our bananas more expensive

maybe, if we could find a way to prolong the life of the lakatan, we will "kill" their cavendish banana industry

[Nabartek]

Fusarium Wilt Threat Is Real

Davao City
The Fusarium Wilt disease of Cavendish banana that has been played up in the media is a real threat to the multi-million dollar banana export industry in the Philippines.

This is stressed by Dr. Agustin Molina, the senior scientist of Bioversity International, a non-government agency based in Rome that is particularly interested in promoting the banana industry worldwide.
He e-mailed thanking us for what we have written about Bioversity’s program in in collaboration with the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD) and the Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR) of the Department of Agriculture. “Your articles, I am sure, will be read by international audience since Fusarium Wilt Tropical Race 4 (TR4) is a very important global concern. It is still in the mind of the global banana industry how Panama Wilt devastated the banana industry in Central America in the ‘50s. It is called Panama Wilt because the first epidemic was in Panama in 1918.”

Dr. Molina said that the wilt disease that attacked that time was the Race 1 which affected the Gros Michel variety which was a favorite of the growers as well as the consumers in the world market. The Gros Michel produced big bunches and the fruits were sweet. It also had good transport quality. But then it was susceptible to the disease. Eventually, Gros Michel was replaced with Cavendish which was resistant to the Fusarium Wilt Race 1.

The Panama disease eventually spread to neighboring countries like Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala and Colombia. Dr. Molina said these were the major banana producers at that time. Banana was such an important export crop in these countries, a major source of their foreign currency. And that’s probably the reason why these countries were called Banana Republics.

He said that it took the big banana companies 40 years of grappling with disease devastations and moving from one place to another to establish plantations. The big companies included United Fruits (now Chiquita), Dole and Del Monte. They were forced to change Gros Michel in the late ‘50s with Cavendish which was resistant to Fusarium Wilt Race 1.

Now, the TR4 is threatening not only the Cavendish in the Philippines but also other varieties like Lakatan and Latundan. The disease is a big threat if not given the right R&D attention for its mitigation, according to Dr. Molina. He says that TR4 first appeared in Taiwan in the late ‘60s causing lots of damage in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Then it appeared in Malaysia and Indonesia in the early ‘90s, making them uncompetitive.

Of course, the threat is not only on the Philippines. India (the biggest banana producer but mostly for domestic use) is also worried just in case the disease gets into that country. So with the growers in Central America and in Africa.

[Parchie]

Originally Posted by Nabartek

Fusarium Wilt Threat Is Real

Thanks for posting this.

[JoelVasquez]

Lemmon grass can grow in an aquaponic environment. Grow lemmon grass and fight cancer the natural way. Start your aquaponics herbal garden, your private pharmacy at home. Check this site below.

http://israel21c.org/health/fresh-le...ncer-patients/

www.facebook.com/philippine.aquaponics
www.facebook.com/groups/philippineaquaponics

[Saddhim]

Originally Posted by jpdm

Yes, if China rejects our banana export (together with Australia), then we can explore other market like Iran and Singapore as mentioned in recent news.

Philippine bananas have already penetrated the Singapore market. We always have it in the office and also I always buy Philippine bananas from the market. It's the best tasting banana in Singapore as far as I'm concerned.

[Greenfield]

Originally Posted by Saddhim

Philippine bananas have already penetrated the Singapore market. We always have it in the office and also I always buy Philippine bananas from the market. It's the best tasting banana in Singapore as far as I'm concerned.

Nice to hear this sir.

[Greenfield]

Originally Posted by Parchie

Having a brain fart lately?

Diversifying involves looking for other agri crops to be planted, grown and then be exported! Then you said "make our country self-sufficient in food". When you decide to plant a different crop for export, you take away a portion of arable land that used to be planted with staple crops of our countrymen! Did people miss a lot here?

Simple statements you cant just comprehend. Now look who's farting.

Originally Posted by jpdm

Yes, if China rejects our banana export (together with Australia), then we can explore other market like Iran and Singapore as mentioned in recent news.

Surprisingly, aside from our traditional agri-exports like abaca, banana, pineapple and copra , we are now in limited quantities exporting organic rice.

More lands especially those idle lands owned by the government(sprawling military camps and other government agri-lands in the provinces) should be harnessed and planted with food crops. So far we are doing well with rice, corn and other staple food due to the rehab of irrigation system and support from the dept of Agriculture.

Agree on this sir.

[Nabartek]

In South Korea: Peru, Philippines in Banana ‘war’

<snippet>
It is mainly due to South Korea eliminating tariff on the Latin American bananas and not to the vociferous “Dirty Bananas” campaign of the National Task Force Against Aerial Spraying (NTFAAS) and the Davao City Task Force Against Aerial Spraying (DCTFAAS) of the Interface Development Interventions, Inc.
A foreign-funded non-government organization, Misireor, earlier claimed that they have convinced the Japanese and South Koreans not to patronize Philippine bananas as “the Philippine export banana industry is not environment-friendly.”

Unknown to the anti-aerial spraying group, all the protocols in the production of Philippine export bananas were provided by the Japan Ministry of Health and Welfare which experts say are the most stringent quality control standards for bananas in the world.

<snippet>

The 911 Save Our Sagingan Movement and landowners in 11 Mindanao provinces hosting banana farms are calling on government to put closure to the aerial spraying issue to protect the Philippine export banana industry from lobbyists of foreign interests masquerading as civil society groups.

“There is a clear pattern among these foreign-funded groups to undermine our public and private institutions and disable us from making full use of our national patrimony for the benefit of our people,” warned Aldeguer, a rebel returnee and agrarian reform beneficiary

[Nabartek]

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/hom...cilitators.pdf


<snippet>

The Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) told BusinessMirror that “while we are still at the upper hand in terms of volume and sales, the sales began to take a dive this week in favor of Peruvian banana because Peru got a zero tariff privilege in a bilateral agreement with South Korea.”

<snippet>

“It’s the banana war between Peru and the Philippines and the Peruvians are getting the upperhand reportedly outselling Philippine bananas three to one,” the statement said.

PBGEA said that the losing position of Philippine banana was “mainly due to South Korea eliminating tariff on the Latin American bananas and not to the vociferous ‘Dirty Bananas’ campaign of the National Task Force Against Aerial Spraying and the Davao City Task Force Against Aerial Spraying of the Interface Development Interventions Inc.”

Some countries are not playing it fair! Maybe, we should take R&D seriously so that we can prolong the shelf life of the Lacatan and export it.

[Nabartek]

Philippines: The China banana saga continues

Filipino Agriculture Secretary, Proceso J. Alcala has cautioned exporters against offering bargain prices for their produce if they are unable to get it into China.

Despite the movement of bananas at ports again now, there are still 2000 containers rotting at Chinese ports, having been found to contain pests. In addition there are still reports that much of the produce is not getting through.

Exporters are asking for relief from the government like suspension of import duties on raw materials and exemption from wage hikes.

The banana industry is employing half a million workers in total.

"The losses continue to pile up and we need more immediate help from the government that will provide both short term and long term solutions for the industry," Stephen Antig, president of the Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association said.

One of the big companies exporting Philippine Cavendish bananas to China still has 193 container vans of bananas that are still stuck and rotting in Chinese ports. The contents of the vans will either be dumped in China or sent back to the city.

The company is set to lose $2.9 million for that shipment alone, notwithstanding the cost that the company will incur should the container vans be shipped back to Davao City.

Antig says the situation is still bad, despite government attempts to play it down.

"Government officials have downplayed the situation, saying that the situation in China is normalizing. How can they even call this normalizing? We do not expect the situation to normalize soon, although we are hoping and praying that it does," Antig said.

[hugodiekonig]

Plant some ‘talong’ to reduce rice pests, expert says
Posted at 1:50 pm June 11, 2012

MUNOZ, NUEVA ECIJA – Farmers should start planting vegetables along rice bunds to help manage pests, a crop protection expert said.

Planting vegetables such as okra, kalabasa, talong and other vegetables provides food for egg parasitoids and shelter for predators of crop pests so it is wise to plant them in rice bunds, said Gertrudo Arida, division head of the crop protection division at Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice).

Arida promotes “ecological engineering,” a strategy that lessens pesticide use by improving the habitat of beneficial insects that can control pests. Spiders, coccinelid beetles, long legged flies, and yellowish-brown ants are among the beneficial insects that can help control pests in rice paddies.

read more at source