Practical Farming! It’s Lanzones Season Again!

In 1994, shortly after I acquired a 10-hectare farm in Paco, Kidapawan City, I started planting Longkong Lanzones with the help of a departed friend, former Mayor Mario Calayco of Pres. Roxas town.
We planted over 1,000 seedlings using only one variety, Longkong, because I was warned about the dangers of cross-pollination which would degrade the quality of the fruits.
It took about 6 to 8 years before the Longkong started bearing fruits and there was a time when I was able to harvest four truck loads.
In recent years, however, following changes in climatic patterns, the fruiting of Lanzones had been intermittent and there were years when they did not produce anything at all.
Today, following a 3-month long dry spell and heavy rains recently, the Longkong trees have profusely flowered promising a bountiful harvest.
While it is a beautiful sight to behold, I have advised farmers who come to the farm awed by the beautiful sight not to plant fruit trees which only bear fruits once a year.
Given the climatic aberrations now, it is not a wise investment especially for farmers with small farms because Longkong and other annual fruit-bearing trees are easily affected by changing climate patterns.
The better options would be fruit trees which are productive year-round like Jackfruit, Durian, Cempedak (which is fast gaining popularity) and Breadfruit or Kolo because of its commercial potentials.
Longkong Lanzones, Mangosteen or Rambutan, which produce fruits only once a year, could just be planted as secondary crops and not as main source of income for small farmers because these do not bear fruits in a year, gutom ang aaabutin ng magsasaka.
This is practical farming.
#farmisthebestclassroom!