Saved-up allowance helps 18-year-old student to build dream farm

While most teenagers spend their money on the latest iPhone or sneakers, Karl Castro was saving his money for something far less ordinary a greenhouse.

- BY JHON OLIVER NERY

KARL'S 100-square-meter greenhouse filled with fresh lettuce, originally built from scrap wood and mosquito nets.

With just his P50 daily allowance, tucked away peso by peso, Karl transformed what many would consider spare change into the seed capital for a thriving hydroponics business in R.T. Romuladez, Agusan del Norte.

Now 18, Karl is not only a freshman Agriculture student at Caraga State University but also an agripreneur earning P30,000 to P34,000 a month from lettuce grown in his backyard.

Like many who started in business, Karl began small. Over the course of a year, he saved about 3,000, which he used with his father to build a small greenhouse at home using scrap wood, mosquito nets, and recycled plastic bottles. The setup accommodated only 50 heads of lettuce, but for Karl, it was enough to get him started.

“I knew it wasn’t much,” Karl said. “But I told myself: if I can grow this small batch successfully, I can scale it up.”

Karl chose to pursue hydroponics, inspired by young agribusiness farmers he often saw on Facebook. Their stories, Karl said, showed him that farming could be modern, profitable, and well within the reach of someone his age.