By Zac Sarian
By Zac B. Sarian
Master a skill or technique that other people find it difficult to do, and you will have a niche that can make you rich. Just like a fellow from Daet, Camarines Norte who has mastered the art of culturing tiny lapu-lapu fingerlings to 5-inch size.
Even the the veteran lapu-lapu grower from Quezon, Dr. Ruben Tan. admits he is not successful in growing the tiny fingerlings that could be had for as low as P1 each. So he just buys the 5-inch fingerlings that cost him P60 each for his grow-out operation.
The Daet fingerling expert can grow the tiny fingerlings to 5-inch size in a matter of
four months. He is lucky because lapu-lapu fingerlings from the wild are available in the Philippines in different places at different times so he has a year-round supply.
In July 2019, when we met Dr. Tan, he said he had placed an order for 2,000 five-inch fingerlings from the Daet guy. That was worth a cool P120,000.
Actually, you can apply the same idea in other fields of agriculture. Say you are an expert in producing capon chickens, that could also make you well-off. Caponizing is now a lost art but you can revive it. Capons are even much more expensive than native chickens. And there are willing customers to pay any price for a special product.
This appeared in Agriculture Monthly’s February 2020 issue.
