Dr. Isagani Catedral of Livegreen International Incorporated highlights the importance of field planning in vegetable farming. (photo by Daniel Nilo)
DILIMAN, Quezon City—During the latest free seminar of the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI), Dr. Isagani Catedral of Livegreen International Incorporated underscored the importance of good field planning in achieving a successful vegetable farming venture.
"You should start right by having a master plan–a field lay-out–to avoid losses resulting from poor field planning," he said. He then discussed how a planting program helps provide continuous supply of vegetables to the target market, which should also be based on household and market preference.
Catedral also shared some vegetable production practices they apply in their company farm in Tanay, Rizal. Established in 2009, Livegreen International Incorporated produces, processes, and distributes fresh organic vegetables to a number of supermarket outlets in the metro.
“Food security should start at home,” Catedral added, as he encouraged the participants to practice organic vegetable farming in their backyards.
Good handling practices in vegetable processing was also discussed during the seminar. Luis Bausa of Bausa Integrated Farm stressed that the shelf life of any product depends on the cleanliness during the preparation and of the tools and ingredients used.
Bausa also led a demonstration on preparing pickled vegetables such as ampalaya and okra. Some participants joined him in this activity and learned more vegetable processing tips.
"The vegetables should be fully submerged in the pickling solution to avoid the occurrence of molds, thus, ensuring the success of your processing," Bausa said.
Among the participants of the free seminar were aspiring farmers eager to apply what they learned. One of them is Noel Villanueva from Fairview, Quezon City who described himself as a farmer by heart.
"It is already my third time to attend ATI’s free seminars. Everytime I am here, I take note of the technologies I can apply in my farm in Laguna," he said.
More than 100 vegetable farming enthusiasts joined the free seminar last June 28, 2019 at the ATI Rural Development and Education Center in this city.