Visiting the “Calamansi Capital” of the Zamboanga Peninsula
was quite an experience for us. Neat rows of hundreds of calamansi trees were
grown in this area and such requires not too much attention. Just the usual
watering and fertilizing the soil are enough and harvesting is done everyday,
portion by portion of the vast plantation.
Known as the “Calamansi Capital” of Zamboanga Peninsula ,
the municipality
of Siay has 634.4
hectares planted with calamansi by 261 small farmers, municipal agriculturist
Elsa Bagaforo said.
We visited a young couple who were
engaged in the business and are now earning a modest income to support their
family and send their children to school.
Ronald and Rodina Espera of Barangay
Batu, Siay, Zamboanga Sibugay in an interview with Philippine Information
Agency said they started their small family
business by planting calamansi after they got married in 2001.
The wait was not too long for the
hard-working couple. Soon they started harvesting calamansi from the 3 hectares
of land that Ronald inherited from his parents. With an ideal climate and fertile soil, their labor indeed was not in
vain. Later, they were able to
acquire an additional 2 hectares which was leased to them.
The couple’s parents are also calamansi
farmers and from their experience, such business provided them with sufficient
income to buy the necessities of life and fund the schooling of their four (4) children.
“Sa
pagpananom sa lemonsito mitunhay ang among pamuyo, apan dili ako makaingon nga
adunay kami dako nga abot. Igo lamang nga makapakaon sa akong mga anak ug
pagpa-eskwela kanila (We survived pretty well, although I couldn’t categorically
say that we earn a lot. It is just enough to feed my children and send them to
school),” Ronald explained. He said it enabled them to live a decent life.
The 33-year-old Ronald said they ventured
in calamansi farming believing that there’s money in calamansi. “We planted
grafted calamansi plants, and from there our business flourished naturally,”
Ronald said in vernacular.
”Sa akong kasinatian, ang among gitanom
nga punoan sa lemonsito mobunga sa 11,280 kilos. Moabot kini sa 376 ka sako
kapin kun kulang matag harvest. Among
gibaligya ang lemonsito sa Motherland, usa ka processing plant sa dakbayan
sa Cagayan de Oro sa tag-P372 ang matag sako (The calamansi trees yield a
harvest of 11,280 kilos and that amounts
to 376 bags. We ship and sell the calamansi at Motherland, a processing plant in
Cagayan de Oro City at P372 per bag),
Ronald said.
Ronald explained that
they ventured in calamansi farming because unlike other crops or fruit trees,
it doesn’t really need much caring. “Gawas
sa naandan nga pagbubo ug tubig ug pagbutang ug abuno, pagbisbis ug pestisidyo
kausa lamang, ug biyaan na lamang kini (Aside from the usual watering and
fertilizing, we spray it with pesticide only once but other than that, we just leave it
there),” he disclosed.
He did not spend so
much for production cost because it is almost purely a family business, with
his nephews and nieces helping them out. He hires four (4) male young workers
for the labor.
”Gawas nga among gibayran ang mga trabahante,
duha niini ang among gigastuhan sa pag-ekwela aron makapadayon sa ilang
pagtungha sa kolehiyo ug makatapos sa kurso (Aside from
paying the hired laborers, we send two of them to school and earn a college degree),” Ronald said.
Indeed, there is money in calamansi and
success in not so hard to achieve if we persevere to reach our goal through
hard work and determination. (ALT/GCC/PIA9-Zambosur)