|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
HONG
KONG
|
|
|
|
|
|
CANADA
|
|
|
|
EUROPE
|
|
|
|
USA
|
|
|
|
INDONESIA
|
|
|
|
|
SINGAPORE
|
|
|
|
|
|
THAILAND
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
|
|