"We need to diversify Philippine agriculture" – Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie says. Some farmers need to plant high-value crops, such as cacao. An agriculturist myself, I believe the Philippines is one of the best countries to grow cacao in – those international chocolate awards we Filipinos keep winning provemy point: We have 5 PH chocolatiers winning 24 awards in the 2019 Academy of Chocolate Awards in the United Kingdom, Pia Lee Brago says ("Pinoy Brands Harvest Awards At 'Choco Oscars'," 18 June 2019, PhilStar, philstar.com): Auro, Dalareich, Malagos, MS3 and Theo & Philo.
Look at the above image; the Twitter caption had said: "Charita and Rex Puentespina, mother and son tandem, behind Malagos Chocolate. Pic taken at the Puentespina cacao farm" in Davao City. I want you to take more note of the cacao trees, fruits – and the soil thick with rotting cacao leaves. It's called litter. An ordinary farmer would rake off those leaves, gather them in one place, wait for them to dry, and then gladly burn them. Bad practice! That would be burning the organic riches in those leaves! It is best to leave them where they are, where they can decay naturally and yield back to the soil what they got from it: all the 16 plant nutrients horticulturists talk about, and more!
Note also that the rows of cacao now have almost overlapping tops and have closed the in-between rows to the sun – excellent to keep the surroundings cool and the soil moist.
The Philippines must be the best country to grow cacao in. More than 100 years ago, in 1902, William S Lyon wrote the book Cacao Culture In The Philippines under the PH Bureau of Agriculture, Farmer's Bulletin #2, where he said:
This essay is prompted first, because much of the cacao grown here is of such excellent quality… notwithstanding the failure on the part of the local grower to "process" or cure the product in any way; second, because in parts of Mindanao and Negros, despite ill treatment or no treatment, the plant exhibits a luxuriance of growth and wealth of productiveness that demonstrates its entire fitness for those regions and leads us to believe in the successful extension of its propagation throughout these Islands…
"Excellent quality notwithstanding failure to process." "Despite ill treatment, luxuriance of growth and wealth of productiveness." This is an American praising the Philippine cocoa to the heavens! In fact, Mr Lyon had observed that "Cacao in cultivation exists nearly everywhere in the archipelago." He also observed that "the inexhaustible supply of humus that is generally found in deep forest ravines frequently lead to (the natives') planting to cacao where the slope is even as great as 45°." I say, there is no need to plant in perilous slopes just for the rich soil for cacao – look at the above image again to show you how such a rich soil can be built for farms – leave that leaf litter alone; it's the best thing that ever happened to your cacao!@517
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