Soldier turned farmer brings honor to Ormoc City

ORMOC CITY, Philippines – “Farmer Troy,” as he is fondly called  by his co-Rotarians, has brought honor to his family and Ormoc City, after he was named “Best DOST SETUP Adaptor 2016 by the Department of Science and Technology.

The Best SETUP award recognizes small enterprise entrepreneurs who are innovative in running their businesses, adapting a combination of technology, financial and management strategies to improve their lot.

“Farmer Troy” Bumagat, proprietor of Trophy Farms, admitted he was surprised when his name was called to receive the top award considering he was just starting out. His other co-finalists were already running businesses, some were engaged in exporting and have more than 300 employees. 

A contract grower for Bounty Agri-Ventures, Troy was recognized for his farming innovations which include a UV light filtration system that reduces his poultry’s mortality rate, as well as heating systems. 

He learned from DOST Secretary Fortunato Dela Peña, who handed him the award, that he stood out among the other finalists since he  was the only one engaged in food production, which the new government wants to shine. 

“Farmer Troy” qualified for nomination as a DOST SetUp or Small Enterprise Tech Upgrade beneficiary after borrowing money  from the agency to revive his poultry business which was badly battered by Typhoon Yolanda.  He paid off his loan in just 11 months. 

His perseverance paid off as he was named “Most Outstanding Agri-Enterpreneur 2015” during the regional “Ugmad Awards” of the Visayas State University, a local university known for its agricultural programs. He was also named “ The Outstanding Farmer of the Year 2015” by JCI-Philippines and Harbest International. 

He  is now one of the three finalists to the Department of Agriculture’s “Gawad Saka” award. 

“Farmer Troy” is a graduate of the Philippine Military Academy and served the Philippine Navy for 21 years, until his retirement in 2013. 

Prior to his retirement as Navy Captain at the age of 38, he was aide-de-camp to former Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro. 

A native of Los Baños, Laguna, his exposure to agriculture was limited to UP Los Baños, where he studied agricultural engineering for one year and eventually enrolled in the Philippine Military Academy. 

However, agriculture knocked on his door, bringing him to where he is now. As he mulled the possibility of either retiring at an early age or continuing the long distance arrangement with his wife, Anna and three daughters who are based in Ormoc City, he began doing research on what businesses he could go into.  

He said that from his business readings, only poultry and livestock were showing increments, followed by sugar and tuna exports. 

Start small, dream big was his plan when he eventually decided to retire.

“Maybe that’s why I named the farm Trophy Farms. It reflected my pursuit for excellence,” he said.

Trophy Farms intially produced organic fertilizers before venturing into poultry growing.

The  two technologies that puts “Farmer Troy” a class above the rest among this year’s finalists is his UV water filtration system and his brooding systems which cut the cost of LPG by as much as 60 percent. 

In a chance meeting with a co-poultry grower, he was told that water may be a primary factor in broiler raising. He then thought of a simple system for his poultry’s water supply by employing a UV filtration system.

He researched on various ways and bought a cheaper version and put a UV lamp on the end, before the water finds its way to the birds.

Troy found out he had reduced birds’ usual mortality rate from five percent to only one or two percent. His “invention” is now being used by co-farmers in this  city.

He also modified his heating system, using biomass to complement his LPG. From using eight LPG tanks every grow cycle, he now only uses three, translating to savings of around P182,000 a year.

 Farmer Troy is also proud to note that his poultry farm fosters a zero waste growing cycle. This is important because poultry is high intensity farming.

 “The impact on the environment is high and affects the community. We had to ensure it was culturally acceptable to the people, and to maintain sanitation, it should be zero waste,” he said. 

To achieve zero waste, he adopted the “tunnel vent” technology of growing poultry so there would be less or no flies at all but would still produce organic fertilizers using the chicken dung they get from it. 

With his “zero waste” farm, he is happy and so is the surrounding community. 

“Farmer Troy” has indeed come a long way from bearing arms to defend the nation to growing chickens to feed the country.