Dragon fruit production a lucrative agribusiness venture

Batac CITY—The dragon fruit production project of the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) is proving itself as a very lucrative agribusiness venture as shown by the figures obtained from the sales of the fruit.

From the 648 posts planted in three strategic sites in the main campus, the university has already harvested about 700 kilos of fresh fruits from January to July, which gave a little less than P70,000 gross.

“The plants are still at their peak production period until September. That’s why we expect to harvest more fruits in the next few weeks,” Jojo Battulayan, one of the caretakers of the dragon plants said.

While other dragon cactus growers in the province harvest the fruits of their crop once a year within the July to September regular season, the university is harvesting the fruits twice because of the application of the off-season production technology for the crop.

Meanwhile, Prof. Maura Luisa S. Gabriel, MMSU dragon fruit production project in-charge, said there were other factors that hampered the smooth production of quality fruits this year, but these were just minimal. She is referring to fruit flies that destroy the emerging fruits. The pest buries its eggs in the fruit and the larva will soon eat its way out, thus, making the fruit unmarketable.

“However, we were able to address this problem through bagging,” she said.

Since the Saniata variety of dragon cactus has become a very profitable agribusiness venture in the university for the last five years, the demand for the fruit starts ahead of the regular season, thus, the university applies the off-season production technology to meet the demand.

The off-season production technology is applied in November when the plants receive less amount of sunlight due to the effect of the incoming winter solstice—a situation when the earth is at its farthest axis from the sun. During this period, the dragon cactus cannot produce enough hormones to induce itself to flower. Thus, the technology involves the use of 6-watt Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulbs, and 26-watt compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) which are used to light the plants between 10:00 pm to 2:00 am.

The demand for dragon fruit increases by more than two times higher in off-season months than in regular season. In Ilocos Norte alone, market demand starts in early parts of January.

In most cases during regular and off-season months, harvesting dragon fruits in the university is done by order due to limited supply. Usually, the harvest is done twice a week with a minimum of 80 kilos per harvest.

The selling price per kilo depends on the season and the volume of harvest. From January to March, the fruit is sold at P150 to P180 per kilo, while it dips to P75 to P80 per kilo from July to September. Some growers in the province even disastrously compete with other farmers by lowering it to P50 to P60 per kilo.

Comments

Free dormitories eyed for Nueva Era students in LC, Batac

Nueva Era mayor Aldrin Garvida By Dominic B. dela Cruz ( Staff Reporter) Nueva Era , Ilocos Norte—The municipal government here, headed by Nueva Era mayor Aldrin Garvida is planning to establish dormitories in the cities of Laoag and Batac that will exclusively cater to college students from the said cities. “Sapay la kuma ta maituloyen iti mabiit tay ar-arapaapen tayo ken iti munisipyo a maipatakderan kuma dagiti annak tayo a college students nga agbasbasa idiay siyudad iti Batac ken Laoag iti libre a dormitoryo a bukod da ngem inggana nga awan pay ket an-anusan mi paylaeng nga ibaklay kenni apo bise mayor iti pagbayad da iti kasera aggapu iti bukod mi a suweldo malaksid dagitay it-ited iti munisipyo ken iti barangay nga stipend da kada semester, ” Garvida said. Garvida added that the proposed establishment of dormitories would be a big help to the students’ parents as this would shoulder the expenses of their children for rent and likewise they would feel more secured

Empanada festival: A celebration of good taste and good life

By Dominic B. dela Cruz & Leilanie G. Adriano Staff reporters BATAC CITY—If there is one thing Batac is truly proud of, it would be its famous empanada-making business that has nurtured its people over the years. Embracing a century-old culture and culinary tradition, Batac’s empanada claims to be the best and tastiest in the country with its distinctive Ilokano taste courtesy of its local ingredients: fresh grated papaya, mongo, chopped longganisa, and egg. The crispy orange wrapper and is made of rice flour that is deep-fried. The celebration of this city’s famous traditional fast food attracting locals and tourists elsewhere comes with the City Charter Day of Batac every 23 rd of June. Every year, the City Government of Batac led by Mayor Jeffrey Jubal Nalupta commemorate the city’s charter day celebration to further promote its famous One-Town, One Product, the Batac empanada. Empanada City The Batac empanada festival has already become an annua

P29 per kilo rice sold to vulnerable groups in Ilocos region

BBM RICE. Residents buy rice for only PHP29 per kilo at the NIA compound in San Nicolas town, Ilocos Norte province on Sept. 13, 2024. The activity was under a nationwide pilot program of the government to sell quality and affordable rice initially to the vulnerable sectors. (Lei Adriano) San Nicolas , Ilocos Norte —Senior citizens, persons with disability, and solo parents availed of cheap rice sold at PHP29 per kilogram during the grand launching of the Bagong Bayaning Magsasaka (BBM) Rice held at the National Irrigation Administration compound in San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte province on Sept. 13, 2024. “ Maraming salamat Pangulong Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. sa inyong pagmamahal sa Region 1 lalong-lalo na sa bayan namin sa San Nicolas,” said Violeta Pasion, a resident Brgy. 18 Bingao in this town. The low-priced grains were sourced from the National Irrigation Administration’s (NIA) contract farming with irrigators' association members in the province. Along with Pasion, Epi

The Ilocos Times

Search This Blog