Rx For PH Agriculture – Go Native, Go Nature! Go Na!

For PH Agriculture, nobody is asking for my advice, so I’m giving it!

Go Native, Go Nature – Go Na!
And:
Yes to Export – No to Import!

Here are 2 major losses in PH Agriculture today – mango to “kurikong” and pig to African Swine Fever, ASF.

Mango: I can’t find data for export losses, but it has been reported that “kurikong” can cause 70 to 100% loss in yield[1] – that translates to your loss in export. Here is indirect data: Gabriel Cardinoza reports in Inquirer.net (17 March 2018) that Lito Arenas, former President of the Federation of Mango Growers & Handlers Association of Pangasinan, and others visited Guangzhou City in China and “were surprised there were no Philippine mangoes being sold there.” That translates to zero export.

Pig: “There are opportunity losses for the hog industry estimated at about P1 billion ($19.5 million) a month,” Noel Reyes, spokesman for the Department of Agriculture, DA, is quoted as saying[2]. Huge!

For swine, go native!

In March 2016, the book I edited was published by the National Swine & Poultry Research & Development Center, NSPRDC, of the Bureau of Animal Industry, which is under the DA. It’s all Philippine Native Animals. The NSPRDC is specializing on native breeds of cattle, chicken, duck, goat, horse, and pig. Center Chief Rene Santiago says with native stocks, animal raisers can produce quantity and quality meats that are “good for both producers and consumers” (Prologue, page 18).

Today, in PH swine industry, even the disease of pigs is imported: African Swine Fever. So: The solution is indigenous – grow any of those native lines of pigs originating from Abra, Benguet, Kalinga (above image), Marinduque, Mt Province, and Quezon. UPLB Emeritus Professor Angel Lambio says they are “resilient to stresses and resistant to pests and diseases” (Foreword, page 24). Also, the meats of natives are healthful and have distinctive desirable tastes. Excellent for export. Stop importing swine breeds: Go export, Go Native!

For mango, Go Nature!

For mango, I said in a previous essay[3] that we have first to resolve the “kurikong” menace by preventing the infestation of cecid flies. We must look for the system whereby mangoes are grown with at least one other crop, which must be native, so that the balance of harmful and beneficial organisms is maintained.

On the mango image above (from Pinoy Negosyo[4]), I superimposed the question, “What’s missing here?” The orchard is all mangoes. Monoculture. Do you know who loves monocultures, other than farmers or gardeners? Insects! They have so much food that they naturally multiply – into an infestation.

So, the problem with the infestation by cecid flies or the “kurikong” headache is man-made. Minimum predators, maximum pests. You get what you deserve!

The solution is either multiple cropping, or intercropping, or trap cropping. Grow other fruits or vegetables. Mother Nature will then balance the populations of predators and pests for you. My middle name is Awareness; this is a free lesson not from Frank A Hilario but from Science.@517

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[1] https://business.mb.com.ph/2020/02/22/infestation-threatens-phs-mango-production/

[2] https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2019/10/26/1963442/philippine-hog-industry-losing-20-million-monthly-asf

[3] https://ithewizardofos.blogspot.com/2020/02/to-resolve-ph-mango-kurikong-menace.html

[4] https://www.pinoynegosyo.net/business/mango-fruit-tree-business-735.html