SIMPLY BUSINESS

RETIREMENT ACTIVITIES

by LARRY LOCARA

“It's never early to plan for one's retirement”. This is what Mr. Roldan Provendido said when I interviewed him as he displayed his plants as part of the Agri-Fair of the Pagdihon Festival held on October 22-31, 2011. In that event, Roldan showed the ornamentals he grew and sell to garden and plant enthusiasts. While almost 65 years old now, he anticipates that he will still be retained for another year because the mayor of the town he is employed in still wants him to continue with his services particularly tending the many ornamentals of the LGU and teaching farmers and housewives how to grow and market them.

This is also the attitude of Mr. Rey Osano, recently retired as head of the Crops Division of the Iloilo Provincial Agriculture Office. Mr. Osano has already invested part of his lump sum in developing his garden and in acquiring varieties of plants which he thinks will sell high especially during trade fairs and even by walk in customers who have heard of his plants.

Both Provendido and Osano are hands-on agriculturists who have spent many long years of their life as government technicians helping farmers grow and earn more. As technicians they not only lecture but can also plant and take care of plants so much so that they can proudly say that they are “hands-on” government workers. Now that they are in their senior years and retiring, they have prepared for their next careers: as gardener entrepreneurs.

Osano had not started early with his retirement program, since his job involved the hands-on management of his division. Besides, his residence in Moroboro, Dingle compels him to wake up early, prepare for work in the city and attend to the various concerns of his division that makes him travel to all parts of the province. But even then, he had an idea of what he wants to do once he gets out of government service. As early as ten years ago, he had started collecting the plants and crops he wants to sell later. Being also a farmer, he had always planted good varieties especially those being tested by his office so his knowledge of plants and ornamentals had been up to date.

As soon as he retired and processed his retirement lump sum, Osano started to develop his dream. He built a large enough shed that serves many purposes like family gatherings, putting soil into plastic pots and even meetings for small groups like his garden club and farmers' group. He also built a small shaded house for growing seedlings of plants and ornamentals he wants to propagate. When he located

a dumping site for the coffee hulls of a coffee dehuller business, he had the whole bulk carted to his lot and which he now uses as potting mix.

Aside from ornamental plants, he is also on the look out for excellent fruit varieties which he can plant and later reproduce in large volumes for sale to farmers and other plant enthusiasts. He has recently acquired variegated kalamansi which is not only fruitful but also beautiful and may be made as an accent to one's yard. He says that he has other species and varieties of fruits which may also help other farmers to earn both as seedlings and fruits they can sell in the market.

He then applied his years of experience as a technician to grow healthy plants. He also continued to acquire unique and highly salable varieties as mother plants so that he can grow many seedlings from them. On his very first entry in an agri fair in his hometown, his plants immediately sold out because they are not only unique but are also healthy. During that show, he was on the look out for new varieties which he again can grow in numbers and sell later for a hefty profit.

Osano also started a hog finishing project where he built a pig pen on the back portion of his property and raises about 10 finishers per batch. He opted to buy piglets to grow and finish instead of raising sows which he thinks is laborious. “The beauty of growing piglets is that one just grows them for 150 days or less and sell them at 95 kilograms and above”, said Osano.

But hog raising has also another advantage. Hog manure is a good source of organic matter for plants and Osano says that by raising pigs, he is assured of continuous supply of organic fertilizer for his garden. He allows the manure to fully decompose and adds this to the decomposed coffee and garden soil, coming up with an ideal soil mix for his seedlings and plants.

On the other hand, Provendido being a technician for cut flowers and other special crops worked with gardeners and unemployed women in San Enrique. His job enabled him to learn and teach the culture of these plants, many of them exotic or coming from other countries which required special care. As organizer and coordinator, he also have to help the farmers and women of the town to bring the plants wherever they wanted to participate. At first, he only helped the farmers and the women, but seeing there is money in growing and selling the plants, he also grew his own and brought them to the fairs and exhibits.

His hobby is now another source of extra income for him and his family. He is tapping his children and his nephews and nieces for labor and to act as watchers during the fairs so that he can be free to attend to other functions. In return, the nieces, nephews and children are rewarded with allowance money especially for cell phone loads, now a necessity for growing children.

TIPS FROM THE EXPERTS

Osano and Provendido are only two of the many retirees who are now enjoying their golden years by planting and selling ornamentals and other plants. But both have tips for other retirees and people wanting to join the band wagon of growing ornamentals and seedlings for sale.

First, is that one has to love growing ornamentals and other plants. The immediate objective may not even be money or to sell the plants. It may be just be for the love of plants and growing them. But the money aspect can follow especially if one starts to produce healthy and beautiful plants which are not ordinary. Plant enthusiasts will rush to buy unique healthy plants to add to their collections, to beautify their homes and gardens but also to sell later on. So if one is ahead of others in acquiring a new type of plants, he is assured of a market when the demand for them comes up.

Second, one has to learn how to grow beautiful plants, learning their habits, nutritional requirements, environment which is ideal for them, and the pests and diseases which may attack them later. By learning everything, one gets the assurance that he will produce healthy plants for sale. One has also to spend time tending his plants especially hands-on since one cannot often leave this task to laborers who more often than not would just work without care. The best situation for the gardener is when he finds a laborer who loves plants as much as the owner.

Use nature-friendly technologies which are sustainable like growing earthworms to harvest its wastes as fertilizers and also to use the live worms as feeds for chickens and fish. You can also learn the Japanese and Korean Natural farming System which use bacteria and other beneficial microorganisms to help in farming activities and to restore balance in the environment and the ecosystem.

Third, ornamental plants is a business too so one has to keep track of the expenses and the effort, accounting also the amount of time one spends on his project. With proper accounting, one gets an idea of the state of his business or hobby and how it can be grown too.