A clever farmer from Cabatuan, Isabela

By Julio P. Yap Jr.

Literally, a farmer in Cabatuan town, Isabela, can be called “clever” for choosing the right input for his mung bean or munggo plantation.

After all, his name is Clever Domingo of Barangay Del Corpuz. That is why he is plainly and fondly called as “Clever” by his fellow farmers in their community.

According to Domingo, he has been using the products of Tagchem Dragon Distribution, Inc. (TDDI) in his 3.5-hectare farmland which is devoted to rice in Barangay Corpuz for several cropping seasons already; but it was his first time to try using some inputs of TDDI for his mung bean plantation.

TDDI agronomist Fernando Verce (left) poses with Domingo during his recent visit to the latter’s farm to monitor his mung bean plantation.

As a rotation crop for rice, Domingo says he preferred planting mung bean because it is a short maturing crop and plays a vital role in crop diversification, aside from being a soil fertility-enhancing crop.

Domingo says that after his mungbean plants started to mature, he noticed a significant improvement, probably due to the inputs he sourced from Tagchem Dragon Distribution, Inc., like Mettle Pro, King Arthur, and Dragon Humus.

According to Fernando Verce, an agronomist of TDDI and the one who convinced Domingo to try the products in his mungbean plantation, Mettle Pro is a systemic foliar fungicide which is the combination of tetraconazole and carbendazim.

Verce says it is a strong systemic fungicide which has a curative and preventive effect on
various crop diseases such as anthracnose, diplodia stem end rot, scab, and sooty mold,
among others.

This is the reason why the plants of Domingo remained pest-free and started to fruit
abundantly.

Regarding King Arthur, Verce says it is also a synthetic pyrethroid insecticide, and is a
pseudo-systemic insecticide due to its high solubility in water.

Adding that the high solubility makes its solution easily absorbed by the plant.

Compared with the mung bean plants of his neighbor (left), the plants of Domingo (right) are much better and robust due to the products of Tagchem Dragon Distribution, Inc. which he uses.

While Dragon Humus is an organic soil conditioner and plant growth stimulant that contains humic acid, which is a final break-down constituent of the natural humification of organic materials such as plant and animal matters through the biological activities of microorganisms.

He explained though that Dragon Humus is not an alternative to fertilizer and is not, by itself, a fertilizer, but it acts as a soil conditioner and as a bio-catalyst and bio-stimulant for the plant.

Because of its characteristics, it enhanced the mung bean plants of Domingo, while at the same time, increased the soil’s fertility. With these improvements, Domingo is expecting to increase his mung bean yield – by up to 1,000 kilos per hectare, based on the performance of his crop.

During a recent visit to the farm of Domingo, we noticed the physical improvement of his crop, as compared with the mung bean plantations around his farmland.

In just a matter of days, Domingo is expected to have a bountiful harvest of mung bean.

After all, mungbean can be harvested in about 65 to 70 days because it is a short maturing crop.

By using the products of TDDI, Domingo says it reduced the need for other commercial and inorganic fertilizers and pesticides for his mungbean plants, apparently due to the improved soil fertility and better absorption of nutrients from the soil.

Verce added that the inputs also improved the water holding capacity of the soil, thus, helping resist drought, which is prevalent in the province.

Meanwhile, TDDI chief operating officer Jo Mari R. Aves says that in order to meet the requirements of the agriculture industry and to sustain corporate growth, TDDI periodically releases new products which are useful and beneficial to the farmers and other stakeholders.

Adding that as a locally grown and a Filipino-owned company, TDDI takes pride in contributing to the country’s domestic growth in its own humble way.

This appeared in Agriculture Monthly’s July 2018 issue.