The three-day monthly AANI Agri-bazaar cum Agri-Kapihan will be held starting on July 17, at the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City.
Activities like this is where small scale agri-entrepreneurs, hobbyists and even big time investors can pick up useful ideas, insights, opportunities and trends in profitable farming and gardening. It is also where people of similar interests meet and interact for their mutual benefits.
At the Agri-bazaar, new products are showcased in the stalls of participants who are usually micro or small scale enterprises that could grow big with the right strategies.
There are bright ideas for the elderly or retirees who could still be productive in their later years. One example is the aquaponics technology that Dr. Eduardo Paningbatan has developed to grow vegetables, herbs and other crops. Dr. Paningbatan is a retired soils science specialist from UP Los Baños.
Through aquaponics, Dr. Paningbatan has shown that favorite vegetables can be grown submerged in water in container. With this technique, the grower does not have to water his plant every day. He has shown during a previous Agri-bazaar that robust saluyot can be grown in small recycled plastic cups that are submerged in water contained in a half drum that was halved horizontally.
With this technique, growing crops in urban areas is made easier. It is suitable where gardeners cannot cultivate and make plots in the ground for one reason or another. Dr. Paningbatan has also a technology with which one can grow healthy vegetables and other plants in recycled soda bottles using his special plant medium and nutrients.
If your interest is small livestock like rabbits which you can grow in a limited space, you can meet Art and Angie Veneracion who used to be engaged in the garments business but who have turned their interest in organic farming with rabbits as their major focus.
They will tell you that rabbit raising can be a profitable project. It is the right project for those who don’t have big capital. The money required to start a rabbit project is small compared to taking care of large ruminants like cows and hybrid goats. Rabbits multiply fast. And rabbits are a good source of white meat that is not only delicious, it is also a very healthy food. In fact, the main thrust of the Veneracions is to produce rabbits for human food.
AGRI-KAPIHAN — The Agri-Kapihan which is held on the last day of the Agri-bazaar is well attended by people not only from Metro Manila but also from the provinces.
Aside from being the venue where experts discuss practical topics in farming and gardening, it is also where the attendees are given the opportunity to share their experiences in their own specializations.
By the way, the Agri-bazaar and Agri-Kapihan are open free to the public. Free coffee is also served during the Agri-Kapihan. There is also free taste of Spirulina coffee from Aztec Spirulina Company which contains mangosteen extract and spirulina.
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AANI FARM TOUR — We got the information that a lot of people are interested in joining the AANI Farm Tour that will visit the rambutan farm of Pol Rubia in San Isidro, Candelaria, Quezon on Sunday, July 26.
The attendees will have the chance to eat all the rambutan they can. Pol has trees that are heavy with ripe fruits come July 26.
AANI has been regularly conducting farm tours to visit interesting farms like the Alaminos Goat Farm of Rene Almeda and his sons Art and Totie, the organic dragon fruit farm of Edna V. Sanchez of Jalajala, Rizal, the Costales Nature Farms in Majajay, Laguna and several others. Contact Jocelyn Mahipus at 0917-795-0916 for more information.
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Log on to: zacsarian.com for practical farm tips, agri-trends, opportunities and interesting agri-people. You can also reach us at 0917-841-5477. Our site is visited by hundreds of pageviewers every day. Last July 9, 2015, there were 1,605 pageviews that day. The highest number of pageviews was recorded on March 24, 2015 with pageviews of 3,499 that day.
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