OFW Red Lady- Larry Austria Farm

Larry Austria, younger brother of Romie Austria is one of the 22 registered upland farmers in the slope of Mount Arayat.

Two weeks ago, after clearing typhoon Igme, he transplanted his certified Red Lady Papayas.

Pictures of papayas not yet available.
It will be posted by next week after my visit.


August 27, 2008

As of above date, these are the pictures of red lady planted in Larry Austria farm in Bitas, Arayat, Pampanga.

The blog will be supplied by latest pictures of our red lady's from time to time.

Upland Farmers of Bitas

INTERACTION WITH THE UPLAND FARMERS OF BITAS


Early morning at 8:30 a.m. we started to climb the slope of Mount Arayat. With me were Romie Austria, the president of the upland farmers in Bitas, Arayat, Pampanga and Larry Austria, his younger brother.


Bitas upland cooperative is composed of 22 registered farmers residing in Barangay Bitas, Arayat. The upland is more than 30 hectares of land subdivided to all members.


During rainy seasons, the farmers along with their families are very busy planting cash crops such as ampalaya, okra, tomatoes, sili, sitaw, corn, palay, root crops.


Our first stop was at the Farm of Narcing Magkalas, former Barangay Captain of Bitas, an OFW Red Lady Papaya Grower. He was not around at the time of visit so we decided to proceed our climb to Romie Austria farm.



Romie was awarded the right to till a 2 hectare farmland which is now planted with Atis, native papayas, ampalaya, and the last week newest addition to his crops, the Red Lady Papaya.


Most of the farmers are kin related so it is very easy to blend with their group. During lunch time, sinampalukang manok was served at the nipa hut of the elders.


I was able to touch BPN with the group, it was introduced by Romie, but , I believe a formal presentation is needed to convince the farmers.


A group of OFW in Saudi Arabia who formed a cooperative are now starting to change the life of the people living in the upland. The group is focusing in planting red lady papaya.

Three of Bitas members (Narcing, Romie and Larry) are already growers of the Hybrid Red Lady Papaya.




They requested us to model their farms, and we want the farmers to talk about the yields of the farms once the papayas start to bear fruits.

Once the test farms found to be successful, that is the time to go bigger in planting the Red Lady's.

Our plan is to partner with each member a one hectare of their land to be planted with Red Lady.

Everyone was delighted with the idea.
I can see smile in their eyes but their lips denies.
During exchanging of ideas, others discreetly found a place to take a nap. That was so precious to people who never stop working in this upland.

I know someday... something big is about to happen!

OFW Red Lady- Narcing Magkalas Farm

September 27, 2008

I delivered 106 red lady papaya seedlings to Narcing Magkalas to increase the population of his crop.

The growth and development of each farm will be viewed from time to time during update of pictures.










THE NARCING MAGKALAS FARM

The port of entry to the upland farmlands is passing thru the farm of Narcing Magkalas. It can be reached by car, and you can even park your car infront of his cozy nipa hut.

He is a member of the OFW Coop. Red Lady growers. During the early stage of the seedlings, his nursery looks very promising because the percentage of germination is very high. But during the non stop pouring of rains, the main trunk of the seedlings started to rot.


He admitted that he should have transferred the seedlings to plastic bags at younger stage to avoid stress during transplanting. It costs him 70% of the would be populations of the plants.

To cover up losses on population, I promised him that I will deliver around 80 pieces of seedlings in plastic bags during my visit next week.

The papayas are already 1 month and a half, and sprayed by BPN as the main plant nutrition.

We noticed flowers are starting to come into sight.

OFW Red Lady- Romie Austria Farm

September 12, 2008



Typhoon Marce was seen today in Cagayan and rainshowers is all over Central Luzon.

When I received Romie's call to visit again the red lady in the upland, I did not hesitate to welcome his invitation.

As early as 6:45 a.m., Sept. 12, 2008, I was already at the gate of Romie's house in Bitas, ready to climb the upland.

The path going to the upland is dangerous, wet and so slippery so we carefully watch our every steps while climbing.

I was overjoyed when I see how healthy are the red lady's. The papaya is even 3 to 4 times bigger compared to the previous visit at the upland.

Romie told me that the annual rainfall, soil, sediments and minerals pouring down the mountain makes the slope of the mountain very fertile.




He also added that after 3 weeks, the
crop shall be at our chest level and the field will be totally covered by green leaves of red lady papaya.

Romie's farm is now an envy for the upland people. Two farmers already requested me to provide them 2,000 seedlings of red lady for them to cultivate.




































































































































































































RED LADY OF ROMIE AUSTRIA


Romie is the key to the upland people of Bitas. His vision of helping his people to accept changes serves as his inspiration to proceed the planting of the Red Lady Papaya.

The first 5 grams package of seeds of red lady's he sown for germination were destroyed by typhoon that is why, his timetable of planting was altered.

I did take care the germination of the next batch in my farm in Arayat. I suspect that the seedlings germinated in their place does not receive enough oxygen that is why, seedlings desiccate during the growth period.

After the typhoon Igme, Romie pick up the papaya seedlings in my place to start the transplanting in the upland.

As of my visit in the upland last August 22, approx. more than 500 papaya seedlings were already transplanted by Romie.

By next week, the final planting will be finished.

Shown on the pictures are one week old transplanted papayas.