Hobby turns into a harvest of hybrid fruits.

Philippine Daily Inquirer

May 03, 2002 | Copyright

Byline: Mei Magsino, PDI Southern Luzon Bureau

MAMBURAO, Occidental Mindoro-Have you ever seen or tasted an eight-kilo seedless watermelon? How about a 3.5-kilo honeydew?

For most of us, these sweet exotic fruits are served only in five-star hotels and restaurants in Metro Manila and can be bought only from classy malls with expensive price tags. But for the people of Mamburao, these melons are just a ride away to the Jopson Aqua Livestock Integrated Resources Inc. (Jaliri) farms in Barangay Tayamaan here.

What started as a hobby on honeydew melon culture in 1993 turned into a legacy of fruit goodness said to be found only in Mamburao.

Jaliri farm manager Rodolfo Plopino said the secret is in the climate, the fresh spring water and the rich soil of the farm that go well with the organic fertilizer from the nearby dairy farm.

His wife, Maria Corazon Jopson-Plopino, whose father, Hernan, and brother, Edgar, were the first to cultivate the 300-hectare multi-investment farm in 1965, said the seeds they got from Taiwan and Japan in 1993 produced only 1.5 kilos per fruit.

Jaliri Farms was able to double that. Here, each honeydew melon and each golden prize melon weighs at least 2.5 kilos, the biggest tips the scale at 3.5 kilos. Seedless watermelons weigh a maximum of 19 kilos.

Now supplying melons to Makro, S & R, Landmark, Rustan's, and Shopwise malls, Jaliri was also able to export its melons to Taiwan.

The melons have also reached the plates of the rich and famous as most local government officials of the province have given the President, the senators, congressmen and businessmen sweet melons as gifts.

Jopson farm

In 1965, Maria Corazon's father took Edgar to the island-province of Mindoro. There they rented a room in Mamburao, the province's capital town, and moved around only in jeepneys and karetelas, and sometimes rented a pumpboat to go to the other towns and barrios.

It was on this trip that their host took the Jopsons to see a piece of land for sale in what is now Barangay Tayamaan. Father and son were impressed by what they saw. The land abounds with animal life-deer, wild boar, monkeys and birds.

It was Edgar who convinced his father to buy the land. Hernan is known in the business community as the pioneer of the supermarket business. He was the first to put up the country's first supermarket, the Jopson Supermarket, which operated from 1947 to 1989.

"Coming here was an adventure for all of us," Maria Corazon said.

"Since there was no electricity yet, we had candles at night. And since we didn't have artesian wells at that time, we bathed in the river. Here, we learned to cook our food over wood fire," she added.

Along with her eight siblings, they visited the farm during summer vacations.

"American troops used to have war games here, when they trained for jungle survival back in the '70s when the Vietnam War was still on," she recalled.

Multi-investment

When the Jopsons stopped their supermarket operation in 1989, the 300-hectare land, which used to be planted to coconuts, was converted into a multi-investment farm.

"When the supermarket was sold, we came here to develop this farm," Maria Corazon said.

The farm also had the capacity for rice and corn propagation. But when the honeydew melon bore better and sweeter fruits, the Jopsons prioritized the melons.

Initially, 3,000 square meters of land were used to propagate the melons.

Romeo Sapin, Maria Corazon's brother-in-law, who was trained by the Taiwanese, was the first to plant the melons.

The first melons planted had 30-40 percent mortality rate. That time, the typhoons frequented the island.

But the agri-business persisted until Jaliri became the leader in the fruit industry. It also began the seedless watermelon production.

Now, four hectares of land are devoted to honey dew melon production while 20 hectares are planted with seedless watermelons. Here, giant seedless watermelons are still exported by dealers who come to buy Jaliri's produce. Seedless watermelon has reached over 300 tons in export every season.

"Before, only the Taiwanese were able to propagate honeydew melons and seedless watermelons," Plopino said.

"We used to get our seeds from Taiwan and Japan. Now, we produce better fruits."

Melon planting starts in September, at the end of the rainy season, and harvesting is during Christmas.

"Here, every agribusiness is connected to another business," Plopino said. "The organic fertilizer we use for the melon farm is from the cow manure of our dairy farm. At the acacia plantation, the acacia seeds, which are high in protein, are used as feeds for the cows. Our irrigation system here is also used for the prawn culture."

The island province's climate, which is distinct wet and dry, has also helped in the melon propagation.

Spring water is also used in the Jaliri house set on a top of the hill overlooking the crocodile hill and the Mindoro Strait beyond. It is also used in the family's swimming pool.

Development

"Since the Calabarzon project, the development has been blessed to those provinces only. We thought there was nothing left for Occidental Mindoro," Maria Corazon said. "We wanted to prove that we have our own identity, that Mamburao town in Occidental Mindoro has a memorable taste experience that's worth returning to. In our own small way, somehow the government can send even a trickle of development in our province."

Known for the distinct sweetness of the honeydew and golden prize melons, and the giant seedless watermelons, Jaliri farm has been imitated by more and more farms from other provinces.

When the Asian currency crisis started in 1998, exports declined.

"That's when we decided to cater directly to homes," Maria Corazon said.

Farmgate prices of the melon range from P45 to P50 per kilo.

"You have to exercise good timing and adopt a viable sales strategy at all times," Plopino said, "That way, you won't be hit hard when crisis strikes."

In the fruit industry, Jaliri melons have to compete with lesser quality melons with lower price.

Most often, hotels and restaurants prefer the cheaper but bland-tasting melons-sacrificing quality for quantity.

"That's why when you tasted bland honeydew melons in hotels, don't blame us. That's not ours," Maria Corazon said.

Resort

The 300-hectare farm is also a resort where visitors get a hands-on farm experience and hike on the mountains.

At the farm front, where the ice plant is located, guests can have a tour of the facility.

Kumatog and Crocodile mountains that still abound with monkeys, wild labuyo chicken, falcons, eagles, and bayawak lizards.

Below the Crocodile mountain is a 2.5-kilometer stretch of white sand. At the beach, the clear water is still knee-deep at a kilometer's walk. The farm has two rivers-the Mamburao and Tugilan-connected to the sea where guests can get on a boat, do some fishing and sail on to the sea.

At the prawn farms, guests can join the prawn feeding. Below the hill, where the family house is located, is the dairy farm where visitors can get a first-hand experience at cow branding.

Here, guests can also go horseback riding, watch the cross-pollination of crops and harvest honeydew melons, golden prize melons and seedless watermelons.

At the back of the farm is a Mangyan settlement where 30 families live on a four-hectare land and where a hectare is cultivated for rice planting.

According to Maria Corazon, the concept to develop the farm into a full-scale multi-investment resort is still in the planning stage. "For now, we just enjoy nature with our family, friends and guests."