Clustering White Garlic – When You Are Good, You Might As Well Be #1! Many Of “You”
The value of farm clustering is emphasized by Secretary of
Agriculture William Dar as part of
the OneDA Approach to the survival,
and beyond that, the triumph of PH
Agriculture as a major contributor to national development (inclusive of the poor). Emphasis on the
Crop favors business for the few; emphasis on the Cluster favors business for
the many. I choose the many.
The
new PH Agriculture must be inclusive business for the many!
I wrote about farm clustering first day this year: 01
January 2021, “Whispering Hope Clustering – Interventions And Assistances
Provided By PH DA[2],”
Brave New World). There, I quote Mr
Dar as saying, “It is important to convince farmers and their respective
(farmer) cooperatives and associations or FCAs to collectivize and come
together to optimize the interventions and (assistances) provided by the DA and
other government agencies.”
With
farm clusters, DA assists more of producers who are more; you produce more and
more uniformly – and you receive more aids and assistances from the DA. What
more do you want?!
Ilocos Norte is “The Garlic Capital of the Philippines,” as
according to a report by Leilanie Adriano
(06 March 2021, “Ilocos Norte Claims 'Garlic Capital' Of PH Tag,” PNA.gov.ph). Above, the upper image
shows UPLB crop scientist Lilian Pateña
displaying garlic plantlets, tissue
culture being the process that produced the planting materials successfully
grown by Ilocos Norte garlic farmers. Tissue culture guarantees that your
succeeding crop performs exactly like the previous crop – dictated by the Law of
Heredity.
(lower image[3] from The Manila Times)
Ms Leilanie says mostly the Ilocos Norte towns of Bacarra,
Burgos, Pasuquin and Pinili, including Batac City, are devoting around 1,880
hectares to white garlic production. Ilocos Norte remains the country’s #1 white
garlic grower, with an average production of 4,161 metric tons, which is 55.7%
of the national produce. Not planned, but this is white garlic clustering.
Some sort of clustering is already practiced in Benguet for
highland vegetables. I am now thinking of other PH crops in other provinces
that may be good for farm clustering in a few towns; here are some personal
suggestions for a farm cluster in a single province:
abaca in Davao
Oriental,
cacao in Bohol (already there but needs improvement),
coconut groves devoted to virgin coconut oil in Laguna,
pinakbet vegetables in Pangasinan, and
rambutan in Palawan.
The high points of farm clustering are:
Economics – you
mechanize and save on labor while increasing production;
Enrichment – you make more people
richer by visibly cooperating;
Environmental – you practice
sustainable agriculture over a wide area;
Evolution – your technology is applied in many towns and may in fact improve over
time.
Clearly,
Ilocos Norte white garlic shows that farm clustering works for everyone!@517
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