Manila Bulletin- Articles, December 24, 2010, 3:19pm

MANILA, Philippines – Provincianos who have ventured to find their luck in Manila but who are finding it hard to make both ends meet should get some inspiration from those who have come to the city and then returned to the province for good.

One such fellow is 47-year-old Noel Zabala of Pakiad, Oton, Iloilo. After graduating from high school, he came to Manila and served as a waiter in a big hotel in Malate. After five years, he realized that he didn’t have a bright future as a waiter. So he decided to go back to his hometown and become a full-time farmer.

There’s wealth waiting in the farm if only one is as determined as Noel. If one is receptive to new techniques. Back in his hometown in 1983, Noel trained on planting watermelon which Oton is famous for. He planted two hectares to this vine crop and was immediately profitable. Up to this day, watermelon is a major crop for Noel. In fact, he was voted recently as one of the ten outstanding watermelon farmers in Oton.

He says that watermelon is a real money maker. Last April, he was able to harvest P250,000 worth of watermelons from two hectares. He spent only P70,000 to produce this crop in just a little over two months. Another two hectares that he harvested later was also profitable although the profit was less because the price of the fruit went down at the time of harvest.

He has also found that ampalaya, especially the hybrid from East-West Seed, is also a good money-maker. Also last April, he planted 1,000 hills of Galactica ampalaya. He made a total of 36 harvests from June to August, averaging 500 kilos per harvest. On the average, he sold his ampalaya at P25 per kilo.

Noel takes stock of what is needed in the market. He had observed that banana is a favorite fruit in Iloilo but no one is growing it commercially. Last year, he planted one hectare to lakatan and now they have started fruiting. In just a few months he will be making a lot of money from this project. He has planted to the same crop another half hectare. So far, there he has not encountered any disease problem with his bananas.

Noel is now well off financially, thanks to his wise move of returning to the province.

By ZAC SARIAN

Source: Opportunities in the province