Nigeda.D Tribune 22 May. 2012
Tope Popoola:ts a Human
Capital Development Consultant and Pastor. Please feel free to send questions, feedback comments on this column toph eritage@uahoo.com or visit
Dlnc t oJ" of Centre Urban A,rh:u.llure Devclopment{CUAD], an orc anillation CAc ouragluc Bac kyard Farm.La, aDd promotiu, weal th ereatioD th rougb agrlc. Sbe Is the author of ' Raisina: SDail.s For Local and E cport Marketa. CODtact :urbana.fric 'Yah oo . c om. ~lJl&J~
Lessons from Fillipino farmers F;(ficient mango production through Integrated Farming System
Destiny Encounters II E
Whoever roues money never has enough: whoever roues wealth is never satisfied with their income - Eccl. 5: IO(NIV) Economy is half the battle of l ife: it is not so h .Q rd to e arn money as to spend it well. - Charles H. Spurgeon I was exiting the Allanta om~ of Haggai Instllute. my eyes aughl a book lItled Wealth ; Is It Worth II? Trust me. my curiOSity was Instantly aroused. So I took a closer look. It was written by Truell Cathy. onc: of America's wealthiest men. A billtonalre In his nlnelles whose name has featured severally on the Fortune 500 IIsl. Truett Cathy owns the Chle k:fi.I·A chain orrast food restauranlS. the largest privately owned chain In America with over one thousand five hundred ouLiets In 39 slatu in the USA. I had no doubt Ihal he would know what he was talking about . More Importantly . I wanted to find oul the answer to that utular question. So. I decided that I would get the book possibly on my way back home tf my 11010 driver would agree to make thai detour. Howl!vl!r. a kind member of St.ilrr who saw me a:amlnlng the book graciously decided I could have IL And lhal was the beginning of another landmark desUny encounter. I barely uttered a word to the dnver on my return Journey because I staned reading the book tmmcdlatdy. If you deSire greatness and great encounters, read the writings or stories of great men. My lessons began with the Foreword written by Ken Blanchard, author of the One Minute Manager and many other books on Christian managl!ffient prinCiples. The Introduct1on to the book was done by Dave Ramsey, arguably Amerlca's most respected voice on the subject of personal nnance whose work Is compulsol')' ~adlng materta1 In many schools In Amertca and whose media shows have a huge following. wrote the Introduction. I wtll be discussing my encountl!r with Dave In a subsequent treatise. Dcscrtbcd by h15 pastor of27 years as a man who walks with kings yet has not lost the common touch. Truelt Is no stranger to poverty . He was raised In some of the most deprived condlUons anyone could a:pe:.rlence. With a loan of 86.600 from the bank and equity contribution of 84000 from hiS brother . they both starled a restaurant called the Dwaif House In 1946 . Three yean later. his brother died In an air crash leaving him to nln the bUSiness alone . He opened a second ouLletln 1951 bul trouble came calling when Ihc restaurant gOI completely razed In an Inferno. With no adequate tusurance policy m place, he was badly In dl!bt and had to close down the second restaurant and concclltrate on the branch left.
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This Is whal evenlually metamorphosed Into the Chlek:lU·A chain which has today become a huge conglomerate. From thc accoun~ of Ken and Dr Charles Caner, Truett's pastor {whom he also fondly calls hiS best frlendJ. when It comes to generOSity, Truett 15 legendary. The beautJful pan of It Is lbat he prefers to remain anonymous about It. His paslor testtned that Truett had given through him several limes to solye people' s problems with speclHc Instructions nOI to connect the gift to hlml Accordmg to Ken. Trul!lt and his wlfe operate twelve foster homes Ihal have given hope and parenlal succour 10 thousands of children who otherwise would have grown up on lbe wisdom of the streets. In addition. he has given over 826m In scholarship to his employees who desired to furlher thetr educallon. Imbued wlth humble mien tJlat keeps him close to earth. Truett taught Sunday School to young boys for over stxty yearsl Among many other things. he also runs WlnS hape roundatlon that caters 10 young people . The IntereSting thing about Truell IS that throughout my encounter with thiS enigma, he did nol once sound orr on the details of his giving activities. What a lesson for our money-miss road millionaires and greedy public servanlS who spend one mlliion Naira digging a borehole and spend N5m to pUbllCI2.e the commlsslonlng. complete with their photos and names on every surface In sight around the project whose water miraculously seems to dry up the day arier commlsslonlngl Bul I dlgressl " Wealth; Is It Worth 10"15 DOl a good book because 01 the: ans....'U It gwe:s to the quc:suon. 1bc: real beauty IS how the author arr1ves at the answer. According to Truett. weahh is two-sided. It can be: used for good or ror eviL Having no personality or character of Its own. money wastes no tlme In assuming the persona ortIS owner. I have often opined that money Is amoral. It simply metamorphoses 1010 who owns It per time. Thelns IS no good money. only money owned by good people. ConYetSdy, there Is no bad money. only money owned by bad people:. From next weck . I will begin to share the great InSights I glimpsed from TruI!II Cothy and his experience: with wealth At 90+ and with a few bJlllons In the kllty. his opinions on the subject should matter to you ... conUnued Remember, the sky Is not your limit, God isJ
GRATEO fanning Ls an Improved version of mixed cropping. where ot only crops, but all types of plants and animals {including aquaUc plant and animal]. Insects are uullscd for production. These are combined in such a way and proportion that each clement helps the other; the waste of one 15 recycled as food ror the otJler. so that overall quality of producUon Is Increased. The traditional Filipino fanner is not unfamiliar with Integrated fanning system (IFSl. mulUple cropping and suSlalnable agriculture. He who lives In the farm and mainly depends on SUbsistence from its produce should be ingeniOUS. In order to maximise production from a farm wlth a limited area. he has to Invent the "bahay kubo" or multIple cropping system . And then Integrate It with the raiSing of livestock animals. poullry and flsh . whcre 5uHable. In farms large enough to require the constant use of plow, thc carabao (mango Iree) Is always there Integrated lannlngsystl!m Is Indeed Ingrained In the culture of the Filipino farmers . It IS oot surpnslng. therl!fore. Ihat many mango growers are adopting this farming system. One such fanner Is Nestor TrespeCe5 of Koronadal City (fonnerly Mll!bel). He has a 5 -hectBre fann In Banga. South Colabato. which Is Just a few minutes ride from the city. The farm has more than 300 mango trCCS aged I t years old belonging to the Philippine carabao mango variety. TIlls variety Is reputed to produ~ one of the sweetest of all mango fruits worldwide. The boundaries of the farm are renced. and a few heads of cattle . goats and "native" chicken freely move around. II 15 obVIOUS that Sir Nestor Is familiar with crop - livestock Integrated fanning syslem. As the year 2009 was about to end, a private contractor Induced the flowering of the mango trees with calcium nitrate. Close to (our months afterOorallnduclion. about 31 tonnes of mature: frulLS were harvested. This Is a clear Improvement compared to the previous three: or four cropping attempts all of whiCh are considered failure . One- third of the harvested frulls .
o r 10.3 tonnes. WB$ the share of the owner while Iwo- tlurds went ' to the contractor Th~ .'Ontracror shouldered all lbe cxpe.nse.s from floral InducUon 10 harvesting. piUS the risk of loss In case of crop 101 In_ In contrast to the others. this fann Is clean becau , e the groundcover {carabao grass] 5 a)ways malnlalned low by the contmuous grazing of the livestock anima s . In effect . ntn llnanl anlmals which g raze freely aro und a fann become bIological mowers. It Is also known that their movement tends to disturb the Insect pests ""hleh take refuge on groundcovers As 10 chicken md other poultry like ducks. geese and turkeys. they gl'82.C on grasses and ecd on Insec ts. Desptte the 'egular spraying of chemtcal pesticides. no lnJUI')' has ever been dtlccted 011 Ule animals In the fann In other mango fanns . chickens feast on the IIISt-CIS whiCh drop Immediately ari "r 3praylng wlthoul an y symptom of >OBOnlng. Where crop· l lyCStock Inlegrated fanning system I I P"'8CUce<l. however. stveral factors n"ed to be considered nu:se toclude th ' choice of livestock . stocking density. fen cmg and security. eradication of I"OX OU5 weeds . feed supply. and pos .Ible damage to the crops. If goat Is II regrated with mango production. II Is recommended that the lowennost b Clnch6 of the trees should be aboy., I meter from the ground. GoalS a... · cLpable of slandmg on their hind Ie: ,s w nibble on the lowermost leave~ and twigs . Sheeps are dlrrerenL the) arc grass browse.rs. It should be elnphaslzed. however. that crop· ltvestOo k integration alone will not ensure su ::cessful harvest from mango farms . Many faclors . tnc ludtng cUmatt, furmlng practices. COSt of Inputs ami market. affect fruit production and profitability. TIteauthors of I hts anldeare Ben G . Barda and EfrenA1. SIoquUn Diagrammatic rel'resentallon of a plg· flsh tntegrat.:d farming system employed In ThatllncltEdwards ~ 1983)
You can order lor our manual on Inlcgraled farmuq s 'lStem on an acre of land and a lso on Backyard Integrated (annl,n ~ s ystem Happy Farming.