ORCHARD VALLEY - This is a 33-hectare organic farm in Pavia, Iloilo owned by Johnny Que, vice president of the Panay Organic Producers Association (POPA). Soon upon entering the farm, you will notice a lot of malunggay trees, thousands of them, that are pruned to about five feet tall, each with many leafy sprouts.
Growing so many malunggay trees makes sense at Orchard Valley. For one, it is very easy to culture. Once established, it is simply fertilized with organic fertilizer like animal manure from organic dairy cattle, chickens, and other fowl. The malunggay trees are not attacked by insects, hence are perfect for organic malunggay production. The malunggay leaves are sold as fresh organic vegetables in eight supermarkets in Iloilo City owned by Johnny Que’s family. The leaves are also fed to milking cows to promote higher milk production. The powdered leaves, on the other hand, are used by a sister in her bakeshop to produce malunggay pandesal.
A big space is used for growing lettuce, upland kangkong, and culinary herbs, which all find their way to their own supermarkets. Orchard Valley has a resident chef who concocts salads and other food preparations using the products produced in the farm like white cheese and leafy greens. Aside from salads, they serve fried mushrooms, deep fried root crops, camote leaves ala tempura, organic yoghurt, various desserts, and more.
Orchard Valley is an accredited tourism destination as well as a TESDA learning site where students go to train in organic agriculture. There they learn to produce fermented plant and fruit juices as plant growth promotant and protection from pests and diseases. They also learn to take care of free range chickens for eggs and meat, native pigs sans foul smell, rabbits for meat, and manure for vermicomposting.
This story is from the December 2019 edition of Agriculture.
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This story is from the December 2019 edition of Agriculture.
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