By Cyrus A. Natividad
Dr. Palada at the Chocolate Hills in Bohol.
With the help of fellow Centralian and former CPU Professor Lucell Larawan, International Horticulturist Dr. Manuel C. Palada, a member of the CPU Board of Trustees, is currently on a consultative visit to help farmers in Bohol. The province is reliant on agriculture as its major industry. In an “all-expense paid” trip, Palada came all the way from Florida, and after spending 10 days in Manila, he spent another 5 days in Bohol in compliance with health protocols.
Palada met with a private organization that operates a 50-hectare spread of farmland over the villages of Carmen, Dagohoy, Pilar and Sierra Bullones. He is hired for his special technical-agricultural services.
Prof. Larawan was optimistic about the consultative meeting. He said, “The province would meet the right minds to level up its status. It cannot just do what it used to practice on the farm and expect different results.” Furthermore, “Bohol needs to follow the best processes and technologies in agriculture if it really capitalizes on its niche industry. The project would include Agri-tourism; a potential that the province can proactively pursue with the help of Dr. Palada.”
Palada described the area as “rolling hills, upland and lowland topography. Various agricultural crops are grown on the farm including rice, coconut, and oil palm. Rice is a major crop and cultivated using semi-traditional methods of production.”
Furthermore, he observed that average rice yields are low and there is potential for maximizing it using advanced and improved rice production technology. This, he said “can be achieved through the adoption of improved technologies including the use of efficient farm mechanization, improved high-yielding rice varieties and optimum farm inputs such as organic fertilizers and eco-friendly pest management.”
Palada recommended that “efficient rice harvesting, processing and storage methods are needed to reduce waste and product loss. Farm income and economic returns can be improved and maximized using modern and up-to-date rice production technology. There is a potential for increasing coconut and oil palm production by using improved crop management technologies. Other promising and potential agricultural enterprises are Moringa production, processing and marketing, high-value fruits and vegetables (tomato, eggplant, lettuce, cabbage, pepper, strawberry, papaya, pineapple, dragon fruit, etc. Other potential and business investments besides farming are the development of agri-tourism industry and retirement home/residential community.”
Palada is currently the President and CEO of Farm Systems International based in Central Philippine University (CPU). He served as a specialist and head of the Crop and Eco System Management unit of AVRDC-The World Vegetable Center in Taiwan (2004-2009). He mentored at various institutions: the Agricultural Experiment Station, University of the Virgin Islands (Research Associate Professor); School of Forest Resources and Conservation, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida (Courtesy Associate Professor); and as a Visiting Professor of CPU, he became the Assistant Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station at the University of Virgin Islands (1998-2001). He had worked as an agronomist and technical advisor of the USAID/PVO/NGO Low Resource Agriculture Project run by the Center for Agriculture and Rural Development in West Africa. Moreover, Dr. Palada served as a research scientist at the Rodale Research Center in the US (1981-1984).
He finished his Ph.D. in Horticultural Sciences-Vegetable Crops at the University of Florida. He earned his Master of Science in Agronomy at UP Los Baños and Bachelor of Science in Plant Science at Central Philippine University. After his Ph.D., he proceeded to be a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Organic Gardening and Farming Research Center in Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Dr. Palada is one of the authors of The Miracle Tree — an international book about Moringa Oleifera (2nd edition).