Clustering White Garlic – When You Are Good, You Might As Well Be #1! Many Of “You”

 

“Ilocos Norte: Garlic Capital of PH[1]” – You can easily look at it as Provincial Crop Dominance, while I look at it as The Natural Virtue Of Farm Clustering. The first emphasizes success in cultivating the crop, the second emphasizes success in grouping the growers.

The value of farm clustering is emphasized by Secretary of Agriculture William Dar as part of the OneDA Approach to the survival, and beyond that, the triumph of PH Agriculture as a major contributor to national development (inclusive of the poor). Emphasis on the Crop favors business for the few; emphasis on the Cluster favors business for the many. I choose the many.

The new PH Agriculture must be inclusive business for the many!

I wrote about farm clustering first day this year: 01 January 2021, “Whispering Hope Clustering – Interventions And Assistances Provided By PH DA[2],” Brave New World). There, I quote Mr Dar as saying, “It is important to convince farmers and their respective (farmer) cooperatives and associations or FCAs to collectivize and come together to optimize the interventions and (assistances) provided by the DA and other government agencies.”

With farm clusters, DA assists more of producers who are more; you produce more and more uniformly – and you receive more aids and assistances from the DA. What more do you want?!

Ilocos Norte is “The Garlic Capital of the Philippines,” as according to a report by Leilanie Adriano(06 March 2021, “Ilocos Norte Claims 'Garlic Capital' Of PH Tag,” PNA.gov.ph). Above, the upper image shows UPLB crop scientist Lilian Pateñadisplaying garlic plantlets, tissue culture being the process that produced the planting materials successfully grown by Ilocos Norte garlic farmers. Tissue culture guarantees that your succeeding crop performs exactly like the previous crop – dictated by the Law of Heredity.
(lower image[3] from The Manila Times)

Ms Leilanie says mostly the Ilocos Norte towns of Bacarra, Burgos, Pasuquin and Pinili, including Batac City, are devoting around 1,880 hectares to white garlic production. Ilocos Norte remains the country’s #1 white garlic grower, with an average production of 4,161 metric tons, which is 55.7% of the national produce. Not planned, but this is white garlic clustering.

Some sort of clustering is already practiced in Benguet for highland vegetables. I am now thinking of other PH crops in other provinces that may be good for farm clustering in a few towns; here are some personal suggestions for a farm cluster in a single province:

abaca in Davao Oriental,
cacao in Bohol (already there but needs improvement),
coconut groves devoted to virgin coconut oil in Laguna,
pinakbet vegetables in Pangasinan, and
rambutan in Palawan.

The high points of farm clustering are:

Economics – you mechanize and save on labor while increasing production;
Enrichment – you make more people richer by visibly cooperating;
Environmental – you practice sustainable agriculture over a wide area;
Evolution – your technology is applied in many towns and may in fact improve over time.

Clearly, Ilocos Norte white garlic shows that farm clustering works for everyone!@517

---

[1]https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1132812?fbclid=IwAR1PD3RerT4Q5lGPN60vT71o7svjdbWXYgYWhqrGvABP2g9gbOOF60ldcrY

[2]https://bravenewworldph.blogspot.com/2021/01/whispering-hope-clustering.html

[3]https://www.manilatimes.net/2020/11/12/business/agribusiness/native-garlic-makes-a-comeback/795134/