Sunday, June 27, 2010

News update Farmers persuaded to plant Macadam

DAVAO CITY - Beneficiaries of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) are urged to shift to sustainable agriculture by planting the high-value crop Macadamia to upscale profit as well as to fight climate change, a Filipino-Hawaiian businessman said over the weekend. Jorge H. Disuanco, president of Macnut Philippines, assured agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARB) that the income farmers would get by planting and harvesting Macadamia trees would sustain them, learning from his own experience when he was still in Hawaii.
Going nuts trying to stay out of their gourds: farmers thriving on gourd andmacadamia crops. (Gourds Ranchos in San Diego, California): An article from: San Diego Business Journal
Macadamia has been regarded as a high-value crop which has been widely produced in Hawaii until the global economic crisis hit western countries in 2006 where Disuanco was forced to go back to the Philippines. "We could fully take advantage of growing macadamia here because labor is generally cheaper compared in Hawaii," Disuanco said.
Macadamia rhubarb malted shortbread.(Recipe): An article from: Art Culinaire
It was learned that thousands of Macadamia trees have been planted in several areas in Mindanao, including Malaybalay, Polomoloc, and in this city. It is being sold at P2,000 per seedling. The bright side of planting these nuts instead of bananas and other pesticide-dependent crops, Disuanco explained, is that it does not need fertilizers all-year round. The province of Ilocos Norte has already started growing Macadamia trees in 2009. (Mick Basa) Comval initiates skills training