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08.01.08BSU’s Squash Noodles
Earlier, when we came across news reports that a noodle factory will be built in Benguet to produce vegetable noodles, we wondered how vegetables — particularly the green, leafy ones — can be turned into noodles. Well, the folks at Benguet State University proved that you can make noodles out of squash as you can see in this Inquirer interview with Dr. Violeta Salda of BSU’s Vegetable Processing Center. I suppose this is a good project because it opens a market for squash farmers. -
04.23.08Kapangan’s Silk Cocoons
Let’s give kudos to whoever thought of introducing silkworm farming in Kapangan. It seems like its going to be a success. Photo credit: John Javellana/Reuters.
Silkworms give Philippine farming town a makeover
By Manny Mogato/Reuters
KAPANGAN - Hundreds of white mulberry trees have started to cover mountain slopes deep in the northern Philippines’ Cordillera region, changing not just the landscape but also making over the image of a poor farming town.Up until the early 2000s, the upland villages of Kapangan, a vegetable growing town of 18,000 people in Benguet province, was widely known as one of the country’s largest cultivation areas of an illegal plant — marijuana.
“We’ve started something to erase that tag,” Roberto Canuto, a public attorney in the province who was elected mayor in 2007, told Reuters. “We’re determined to be known as something else, perhaps, the silk capital of the country.”
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04.19.08Dear Ignacio: No Need to Be Ashamed
Our kailiyan Ignacio Canuto should not be ashamed for billing Gloria. Ket inala met ni Gloria diyay strawberry, di dapat lang nga bayadan na. That’s P6,000, pare. Malaking pera iyon. Dapat talaga nga mabayadan.
If anyone should be ashamed, it should be Gloria’s staff because this is something they should have handled smoothly. Isuda ti dapat nga maba-in. Otherwise, Gloria will be liable for stealing if this is what happens wherever she goes, i.e., that she and her people harvest the produce of others without paying.
Ano kaya ang masasabi ng ating kailiyang si Presidential Assistant on the Cordilleras sa bagay na ito? Hehe
Farmer ashamed on billing Arroyo for harvest of strawberries
From GMA-7: The farmer who billed President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for the strawberries that she picked is now the one with the “strawberry” cheeks.Ignacio Canuto wrote a letter to La Trinidad Mayor Artemio Galwan saying that the whole thing was “an unfortunate and embarrassing experience.”
Canuto said that it wasn’t him who personally asked that Mrs Arroyo pay P6,000 for the 60 kilograms of the strawberries that she and her entourage picked from Canuto’s farm in Betag village last Black Saturday.
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04.09.08A Must Read from Maurice
Here’s an article by Maurice Malanes on how we are losing our traditional crop varieties and replacing them with high-yielding ones which require a lot of input such as pesticides and chemical fertilizers.
The result? The farmers become trapped in a cycle of debt and dependency. Biro mo, kailangan nilang bumili ng seeds every time they plant. With these high yielding varieties, you cannot just save your seeds to plant for the next season. You have to buy new seeds every time and, as mentioned above, these varieties require a lot of fertilizer and pesticides.
Who are pushing for this tragedy to happen? Foreign agri-business companies and their local minions a.k.a Gloria and the Department of Agriculture.
By the way, in case you’ve not been visiting Maurice’s blog, he has other must-read articles which are really worth reading.
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03.26.08I’m Kinda Confused
Medyo hindi ko maintindihan kung ano ang relasyon ng noodle factory sa gulay. What ingredients do they exactly use to make noodles? Isn’t it mostly starchy products like cassava, rice, etc. Maybe they can use potatoes and carrots to make noodles? What about cabbages, green pepper, sayote, etc?
Anyways, just asking because I don’t really know. Maybe some of you know how noodles are manufactured from highland vegetables.
Noodle factory seen to further improve vegetable industry of Benguet
BAGUIO CITY, March 25 (PNA) — An official of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) on Monday said the proposed P10-million noodle factory to be built in Benguet Province will further boost the vegetable industry in the area which became a very viable export since five years ago.NEDA assistant regional director Leon Dacanay said the factory will help the industry in terms of more stabilized prices of vegetables, generation of local jobs and assurance of ready market for farmers’ bumper harvests.
Records show that it was Dacanay in 2005 which made the assessment that a factory which makes use of the great volume of vegetables grown yearly in Benguet will further fortify the excellent agriculture sector in the locality.
In that year, the NEDA official likened the establishment of a tomato paste factory in Ilocos Norte in the late 1970’s when farmers were able to sell their produce even during the peak vegetable season.
Records show that tomato is so adopted to the soil and climate of that province that during summer, tomato farmers sell their hundreds of tons of tomatoes at bargain prices because of the oversupply.
Dacanay said the factories which serve as processing plants for the bumper harvests of the farmers normally stabilize prizes throughout the year even the “off-season” of the products like some vegetables which would not be grown during rainy season except in greenhouses. (PNA)
UPDATE: Hehe. I’m no longer confused. Apparently, Benguet State University has come up with a method to produce “veggie noodles”. Read more about it here.
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03.23.08The Bigis Guys Strike Again
Note: If Youtube tells you that the video is “no longer available”, you can actually play it by clicking at the title of the post and then playing the video. There must be a bug somewhere causing this problem.****
Wow. The Bigis guys keep on producing great songs and great videos. Our personal favorite would still be their Bigis song or “Ay Bigis Ka a.k.a. Are You a Worm?” but this one is really good too. For non-Kankanaey speakers, the song is mostly an advice to vegetable farmers to bring their products ASAP to the vegetable trading post so they can get a good price for their produce.This is what happens when we have a system where middlemen dictate the buying price of vegetables and where the President allows uncontrolled vegetable importation because it personally benefits her.
So a farmer’s income depends not on hard work but on whether or not he reaches the vegetable trading post at a favorable time. And we wonder why farmers tend to be fatalists?
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03.23.08Gloria Kamaptengan?
Because I am a Gloria hater, oops maybe hate is not the right word, I just dislike her because she cheated her way to the Presidency. So let’s change the H word to something else; besides hating someone is not good for our mental health. Now, because I dislike Gloria, I’m irritated to read this news that a sweet potato variety is being named after her cheating ass.
From GMA News:
A new blight-resistant variety of potato has been named after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in Benguet University, Malacañang disclosed Saturday.The variety, sourced from the Centro Internalionale de la Papa (International Potato Center) in Lima, Peru, was named “Gloria Kamaptengan,” after “mapteng” meaning “good” in Ibaloi and Pangasinan dialects.
“‘Kamaptengan’ means ‘the best of all,’” Rogelio Colting, president of the Benguet State University (BSU) after more than two years of research from 2005-2007, told Mrs Arroyo during her visit to a vegetable trading post in Betag district.
Arroyo was in Betag to see off trucks laden with local vegetable produce bound for the metropolis.
Colting showed her the first-generation tubers of the potato variety, initially codenamed 13.1.1, and said the BSU “would like to name it in your honor.”
A Palace statement said the BSU chose the name “Gloria” because of “her commitment in the development of the agriculture industry in the country.”
The best of all? Huh, Rogelio. I guess the BSU President’s got to do what he’s got to do but I’m kinda hoping that members of the academic community don’t go about acting like politicians trying to please Gloria. You are intellectuals, for Christ’s sakes.
But then again, they are naming a camote variety after Gloria so maybe there’s an inside joke there somewhere. After all, we all know that the song most famously associated with camote goes something like:
“Eat camote, the musical fruit
The more you eat, the more you toot.”Come on, Rogelio, fess up! What’s the real deal in naming this camote after Gloria? To honor her? Or to remind us that Gloria smells like something?
We’re just asking,you know. No offense meant. No offense intended.
UPDATE: My bad, we didn’t read the news carefully or our dislike for Gloria has clouded our vision such that we misread the story. They’re actually naming a potato, not a sweet potato, after Gloria. So maybe there’s no inside joke as we hoped there was. My apologies, folks.
