Mangosteen let get serious

GoGOOD Morning to all my friends again, did you have a good week. If you have true faith in the Lord you can. What about the men in the bible, for example, Noah, the Lord asked him to build an ark, because the Lord would flood the land to rid it of evil. Did he refuse or argue no, he had faith in the Lord, lets look at another Abraham, the Lord called him, here I am he answered, take your son Isaac and go to a place I will show you, and build an alter and sacrifice your son. For me, so Abraham went no questions asked, and what about Moises, he took the Israelites out of Egypt and returned them to the promised land, because all of these great men obeyed the Lord, they has great faith in him and trusted him with their lives, read about all of them in the bible. So friends, If you are prepared to give your life to the Lord, he will never let you down, he will take care of you. Just trust him.

Lets pause for a moment: I know by faith in whom I have believed, I know that Gods free gift I have received. I know that he will keep me to the end, My savior, my redeemer, and my friend, faith sees what the eyes cannot. Out topic: well, well farmers and growers. There are many high value crops which can provide farmers with a high income. But, very few high value crops require low production costs which fit into the small farmers financial resources or technical know-how but here is one that can do just that – mangosteen. I have written in the past. On this crop, and I think it's the answer to many farmers in the country, but more so for the farmers and growers here in our own island of Bohol . This crop can give high income comparable to either mango, durian or pumelo but at half the production cost. For instance, mangosteen practically requires no pesticides.

Mangosteen needs only adequate amounts of fertilizers to produce good crops, thereby fitting into the meager resources of small farmers. The cost of fertilizers can be further reduced if the farmers produce part of his fertilizer needs through composting. As to the income a ten year old mangosteen fertilized adequately can easily yield 200 kg of fruit at P15/kg a farmer can easily gross P3000/tree/year. That means that a hectare of eight to ten year old trees with a population of 204 trees (7x7m distance) could easily produce a gross income of over half a million pesos. This income is comparable to the rest of fruit bearing trees. This crop mangosteen is not difficult to market due to its high demand in both domestic and export markets. So come on farmers plant some. Thailand has now 40,000 hectare of mangosteen and is expanding to meet the demands from Hongkong, Taiwan, Mainland China, Europe and other countries, while here in the Philippines we can only show 3000 hectares, Come on farmers and growers, the market is on your doorstep, all it needs is a little effort. There many reasons why mangosteen is an ideal crop for the small farmer a) it is a sturdy crop, which is easy to grow; b) it can be induced to flower by cultural means; c) it has a long shelf life; d) the quality demand in the export market is not so rigid as in other fruits. Unknown the many people, mangosteen is a very sturdy crop and is easy to establish. It grows wild in the forest vegetation of the province of soil. This is one of its centers of origin. The native in habitants consider the trees as a gift from Allah. Producing abundant fruits with practically little care and no inputs. Mangosteen requires minimal care compared to other high-value fruit trees, so the crop fits into what I call week end farmers routine, professionals who would like to establish a fruit farm for their retirement years. The crop is not affected by any major diseases. Unlike mango, the mangosteen needs only cultural techniques to induce an almost year-round flowering and fruiting period.

To encourage small farmers to plant mangosteen I feel I must quell the myths about the crop. The first myth is that the crop grows very slow. I agree it seems slow at the seedling stage, but grows rapidly after two years, the second myth is that mangosteen farming is the long immaturity period, in my research I found this is not true. Many farmers indicate that when mangosteen is provided with good care which include adequate weeding, irrigation, fertilization and pruning, fruiting comes in four to five years. The third myth is that mangosteen is a biennial crop, fruiting one every two years. No way! Many mangosteen farms produce fruits annually, some even bear fruits twice a year. With a heavy load during off season. The fourth myth id that mangosteen in the Philippines are sour while the Thailand fruit is sweet. This is not true, I've tried both. We must not forget the medicimal uses of this crop, they are fantastic, I've just seen a video, called mangosteen, xanthones and the human body. Presented by Dr. J. Frederic Templeman. He states I am firmly convinced that the food supplement mangosteen, has multiple preventive and therapeutic applications. Why would anyone even use a drug to obtain some effect that can be found in this fruit. If you need more information on this video, contact Crismel Jorolan call on email shimel23@yahoo.com . well friends, the ball is in your court. Take care see you next week.