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Philippines

Holding a fruit festival as promotional strategy
Source: Manila Bulletin
Author: Zac Sarian
Date: 2000-08-12
 




THERE are many ways of promoting a particular

industry. In the case of the mango industry in

Florida, for instance, Dr. Wilfredo was telling us the

other week the stakeholders in the industry there

hold an annual mango festival.



The festival is highlighted by exhibits of as many as 300

mango varieties coming from all over the world. There are

varieties from Asia (Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia,

Thailand) but there are more from Mexico, Africa and

South American countries.



The festival offers the tasting of the different fruits

prepared in various ways. Thousands of visitors attend

the yearly festival, and when one has a liking for a

particular variety he has tasted, there are available

planting materials for sale. Usually, Dr. Mallari said,

grafted trees cost $15 each.



This brings to mind what the ECJ Farm of businessman

Danding Cojuangco started two years ago when their

durian plantation in Negros Occidental started to produce

commercial quantities of fruits. Ponchit Ponce Enrile

recounted that they thought of holding a durian festival

because they wanted to encourage the Negrenses to

develop a taste for the fruit. Like in many other parts of

the country outside of Mindanao, most people in Negros

don't particularly relish the special taste of durian

because all they have heard and imagined is that the fruit

smells foul.



In that first durian festival, a participant only had to pay

P150 to enter and he can eat all the durian he could.

That was a rousing success. So many Negrenses

discovered for the first time the special taste of durian.



Last May, another durian festival was held again in

Pontevedra. The entry fee was P300 per, yet there were

more applicants than could be accommodated.



Now, there is a rambutan plantation owner who is thinking

of holding his own rambutan festival. You see, he has so

many trees that are fully laden with fruits which will ripen

sometime in September.



He is thinking of inviting people to go to his farm where

they will pay a hundred pesos or so to entitle them to eat

all the rambutan fruits they can eat. Then if they would

like to bring home some fresh fruits, they could pay for

them at only P35 to P40 per kilo.



We would like to believe that this would be something

Manilans would love to participate in. If the owner pushes

through with his plan, we will tell you about it through

this column. Surely, we would like to be there also.



* * *



TILAPIA SEMINAR. Watch for the whole day seminar on

the production of tilapia in cages, ponds and tanks. This

will be on Saturday, August 19, at the old Magallanes

Theater where the Magallanes Weekend Market in Makati

is being held.



Max Arada and Jojo Baldia, two very experienced

aquaculturists, will conduct the seminar which is from 9

a.m. to 6 p.m. Call tel. 522-0873 or 853-0670 for more

information.



On Saturday, August 19, another seminar will be held at

the same venue. This is How to Start a Profitable Plant

Business with the editor of this page and Prof. Reynold

Pimentel as resource persons. Pimentel will handle the

segment on how to hybridize hibiscus. Hibiscus is a

popular flowering plant. New hybrids can become best

sellers within a few years, especially if they are different

from the existing varieties.



* * *



GOLDEN RICE. Monsanto, the giant company which is

engaged in seed production aside from other ventures,

has announced that it will provide royalty-free licenses

for all of its technologies that can help further

development of "golden rice" and other pro-vitamin

A-enhanced rice varieties.



The grain known as "golden rice" was developed by Prof.

Ingo Potrykus of the Swiss Federal Institute of

Technology in Zurich, and Dr. Peter Beyer of the

University of Freiburg in Germany with the support of the

Rockefeller Foundation.



The modified rice is expected to provide nutritional

benefits to those suffering from vitamin A

deficiency-related diseases, including blindness in

hundreds of thousands of children annually.



Dr. Ron Cantrell, director general of the International Rice

Research Institute, said that Monsanto's action should

"be recognized as another important step in the positive

involvement of the private sector in international rice

research. It is essential that institutions like IRRI, and

companies like Monsanto, continue to look for ways to

work together to benefit poor rice farmers and

consumers. There should be no doubt that this offer by

Monsanto is an important step in this process."



Monsanto Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of

Pharmacia, is a leading provider of agricultural solutions to

growers worldwide. It is actively engaged in the

production of Bt cotton which is now being grown

commercially in China. This is a cotton that is equipped to

fight bollworms, a major pest of cotton worldwide.
 

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