A couple of weeks ago I had an opportunity to meet an ex-pat from Israel, his name is Oded. Oded is a real nice guy and has been living in the Philippines for some time. He lives up in the Mountains in the Marilog District of Davao, which is close to the border between Davao City and Bukidnon Province.
Back in Israel, Oded was in the business of Irrigation. Much of Israel is a very dry place, but Oded knows the technology needed to keep crops growing and thriving. He had some things to show me that really let me know that he knows his business! You see, Oded has brought his expertise to the Philippines and is actually working with farmers all over the country to help bring technology to the Philippines allowing the country to obtain a better yield when it comes to agriculture.
At Oded’s farm in Marilog, he is mostly growing bananas, but he has greenhouses with other crops as well. He uses drip irrigation in order to get the very best results from only a small use of water. He was showing me some photos of a project that he is working on in Tagaytay. Up there, he is working with some people who have installed greenhouses and drip irrigation, and they are growing tomatoes. I’m not talking about the little tomatoes that you find along the roadside around the Philippines. These people are growing big beefsteak tomatoes like you would find in western countries! And, even in the photos, they looked delicious!
Oded was telling me how in the projects that he is working in they are growing a lot of vegetables that are rather new here – stuff that you would find in western countries, but never in the Philippines. He told me that as each new crop was introduced, he found that the items were widely accepted and even appreciated by Filipinos. He said that for these big red tomatoes (most Filipinos prefer their tomatoes still green), if Filipinos would see them on a TV show from the USA, or something similar, suddenly there would be surge in demand for them! People wanted to try them out, and make their diets a little more worldly. It makes sense. Think about food in the USA. We have Mexican, Italian, French – restaurants showcasing the food of all different regions and countries of the world. Why should Filipinos be any different?
This is something that is just opening up here, with foods of different parts of the world gaining acceptance and even the cravings of Filipino people. It’s a good thing for us ex-pats living here too, because we are starting to get a lot of foods that we’ve been craving for years! When I first moved here 7 years ago, it was hard to buy ingredients to make a nice green salad. Nowadays, it’s easy to get that here!
I want to thank Oded for taking the time to show me all of the interesting things that he had to share. It was an education for me!
I'm ready to buy! Where do I line up?
Hi AmericanLola – Oded told me that his is going to set up a little roadside stand to sell some of his veggies and such. He is in the Marilog district of Davao, not far from Father Franco's place. As Oded told me, he is not really into the whole thing to make money from selling vegetables, let's face it nobody gets rich off a roadside stand! It's more of a service, and start to show people what can be done given the correct practices and equipment.
Very interesting post, Bob, and I'd love to meet Oded. When he's coming up here (Luzon) to work on his Tagaytay projects again, give him my cell number … 0919-231-5625 and Mita and I will take him to lunch … we _never_ miss an excuse to go to Tagaytay.
You've pointed up somehting very interesting. A lot of Filipinos need work and to provide work you need a business that produces something. As Westerners we somehow lost the spirit of old and think that every need can be met by "service" industries … much like all this Internet dabbling that you and I do.
But America didn't come to be the world power that it is from people laundering each other's shirts. It got rich and powerful on agriculture … rich soil and hard-working farmers. oday, less thna 2% of Americans work in agriculature … feeding the rst of the poplation and a huge fraction of the rest of the world as well … so mnay folks think of farming as some sort of marginal, borederline career.
But this country (the Philippines) is hungry. And there's labor, lots of it, people with a good work ethic. And ther is land, rich land too. It amazes me how much vacant, usable land there is even as close to Manila as i am … much of it producing only weeds and mosquitoes.
One of the reasons it isn't producing is something you hit upon … Filipinos often have a feeling that their Kabayan …their countrymen … won't accept new things. So, nothing new happens. When a fellow like Oded comes along he isn't "handicapped" by the supposed "knowledge" of what will and won't sell … and presto, land is producing, people have honest work and mouths get fed. Maybe it's time to pull the plug from the Internet thing and start producing ….
Hi Dave – That's too much work for me! You think I actually want to sweat? ha ha… Point well taken, though.
Dave – I can attest to your post re: farmers here in the US. We live here in VT, you can never go more rural and country than VT. 🙂 And yes, farmers here are "serious", with huge lands and everyting. Some of our clients are farmers.
And for you Bob, no you're fine being a "blogebrity". That's where you're good at.
It's a Filipino mentality of thinking that having a white collar job makes you rich. How many Pinoy kids who are proud to say that their father is a farmer? Very few, others are even embarrassed to say. I'm glad that there are people like Oded who try to change that mentality. And for other expats, balikbayans, and other Pinoys who are trying to do so, kudos to you!
Hi Lea – Thanks for your vote of confidence! 😉
Yep, I'm with you – people should be proud to be farmers! Without them, we wouldn't be able to eat.
Hello Bob, I really enjoy your blog and other website. It is very helpful when it comes to explaining things, culture and so on to others. It is a back up reference in my case. Upon reading this article, I am glad because back then it bugs me that Filipinos back home are not experiencing such vegies, spices to use for recipees & food. Back then it is hard to get such things. One time, I mentioned to my cousin a lettuce(w/c I adapted well,love & crave nowadays.) when she was still in Davao City. She mentioned to me that they already have it there. This article explain it all. Thanks for sharing the knowledege and filling the information gap of how western vegies are nowadays accesible there. Do you know if this vegies are availbale everywhere in Davao region and not just in Davo City?
Hi Mahdy – Thanks for stopping by the blog! It's a pleasure to meet you. It has gotten to the point where all kinds of salad vegetables are available all around the Philippines! I remember a day not very long ago when you would never find such things here. The Philippines is really moving ahead!