Lomboy grape farm: Harvesting sweet rewards

MANILA, Philippines - Not a lot of Filipinos are aware that the Philippines is a great place to grow grapes given the country’s tropical climate.

“The hotter, the better,” said Avelino Lomboy, a former provincial agriculturist. He founded Lomboy Farms in Bauang, La Union.

He started with just 20 grape cuttings in his backyard in 1972, which he considered just a hobby then.   It took him two years of research and experimentation before the vines bore fruit.

More than four decades after, Lomboy now owns the largest grape plantation with over 25 hectares of land in Iloilo, Masbate, Nueva Ecija and La Union.

His farm produces 15 kilograms of grapes per vine annually, with 2,500 vines in each hectare.

Lomboy’s grapes also bested all other grape producers in the country, hailing him as the “Philippine Grape King.”

“When we talk about warmer temperature, it’s better for grapes. When you plant grapes, the more it will bear fruits in hotter weather,” Lomboy said.

As grapes thrive in warm weather, it’s biggest enemy is rain, the former agriculturist said.

As the Philippines only has two major seasons – hot and rainy, Lomboy said he can not rely on a single crop alone that’s why he employed diversified farming.

“I am an advocate for diversified farming. There’s a disadvantage in the monocropping system. If you only have one kind of plant and a disaster or disease strikes, then you don’t have any livelihood anymore,” he said in Filipino.

Diversified farming, by planting cash crops like vegetables, medium term crops like guapples and papayas, and long-term crops will allow farmers to make money all year round, Lomboy said.

In 1989, Lomboy diversified his farm production so he could earn no matter what the season and after government allowed the importation of grapes that limited his grape production.

“I planted mangoes, papayas then I went into guapple, into dragon fruit, which is the most adaptive plant in Ilocos region,” he said.

“This is what is called utilization of risk and unproductive agricultural areas,” Lomboy said.

In his farm, Lomboy pioneered the dwarf culture for guapple, an improved variety of the guava which originated in Florida.

This enables a seedling to start bearing flowers in approximately three months with the height of the plant reaching only less than two feet, which can be planted alongside grape vines.

This culture, Lomboy said, greatly improves labor costs, associated with bagging, spraying, and harvesting of the fruits, over time.

The Ilocos region is also a great place to grow dragon fruit because of its tropical and arid conditions, the former agriculturist said.

In 2007, Lomboy Farms first planted dragon fruits as an experiment on adaptability and fruiting capacity, which went on full-scale commercial production of the fruit only in 2013.

Apart from diversifying farm output, Lomboy said farmers should also do research to improve production.

In fact, Lomboy Farms is also a training ground and demo farm not only for government agencies but for the private sector and educational institutions as well.

This allows Lomboy to share his knowledge in grape and guapple production and farming operations in general.

“My area is a learning center. We get most visits from universities, like UPLB (University of the Philippines-Los Baños), Bicol State University and the farthest was Visayas State University in Leyte,” Lomboy said.