QUALITY MAKES THIS DRAGON FRUIT FARM IN CAVITE ENDURE STIFF COMPETITION IN THE MARKET
Agriculture|December 2019
SILAN FARM’S STORY is one that is full of inspiration. Husband and wife Edilberto, or Eddie, and Sheila Silan started with just 10 dragon fruit cuttings planted in a small part of a half-hectare property which Eddie inherited from his parents.
Sahlie P. Lacson
QUALITY MAKES THIS DRAGON FRUIT FARM IN CAVITE ENDURE STIFF COMPETITION IN THE MARKET

This is not to say that he came from a well-off family. It just so happened that his parents were able to save up (sans luxuries in life) in order to have something to bequeath to their eight children while doing their own brand of farming. Growing up, Eddie was already imbued with the farm life; this is the reason he went back to tilling the land, starting Silan Agri Farm in 1999.

A STRUGGLING BEGINNING The Silans used to sell garments in Baclaran in 1986. This was their simple means of livelihood as they were just starting their lives as husband and wife. Prior to that, Silan, a Marine Engineering graduate with an undergraduate in Mechanical Engineering, had just come back from Saudi Arabia, where he used to work as a machine operator in a subcontracting company until he was forced to return home after his company lost the bid for what used to be the company’s major project. Sheila, meanwhile, was able to get a job in a government entity.

Their RTW (ready-to-wear) buy-andsell scheme was doing good until foreign competitors began to settle in the area, which resulted in a slump in sales. It was then after 10 years, that Silan decided to go back to Indang, Cavite where a half-hectare property bequeathed to them by his parents was standing idle for all that time.

Upon returning to his native hometown, Eddie initially helped his parents plant coffee, banana, and pineapple. It was until 1999 when he was fortunately given 10 stem cuttings of dragon fruit tree by his friend Alex Litton. Litton is a businessman who introduced the white-fleshed dragon fruit variety to the Philippines from Taiwan in 1992.

This story is from the December 2019 edition of Agriculture.

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This story is from the December 2019 edition of Agriculture.

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