Hydroponics craze goes to Visayas

Hydroponics has become a craze in Metro Manila. Seminars and workshops have sprouted all over with jam-packed audiences coming from all walks of life.

"There were retired generals, doctors, and mothers, even nuns, who surprised me of their enthusiasm to grow their own vegetables hydroponically," noted hydraponics guru Boy Guevarra in a recent seminar on hydroponics in a demo-farm at the Nego-Eskuela compound in North Ave.

Hydroponics is a soil-less and pesticide-free urban farming technology that Guevarra is sharing to Filipinos after his decades of exposure in this technology in countries like Holland, US, and Israel. It is a technology that ensures a faster growth of plants in a controlled environment. "Anything that holds water can be used in this farming technique," said Guevarra who demonstrated in the recent workshop how a limited space could be maximized for planting all sorts of vegetables.

In Manila alone, hundreds are now using the technology to provide themselves with a year-round supply of vegetables that are clean and healthy, and others are starting to immerse in business with it, observed Guevarra. Even the Metro Manila Chamber of Commerce and Industry showed interest in this urban farming technology as it invited Boy Guevarra to feature hydroponics in the upcoming Metro Manila Business Conference.

"This strengthens our hope for urban agriculture," comments Nathan Zulueta of Quezon City Chamber of Commerce and Industry (QCCI).

Hydroponics technology is set to invade Cebu and the Visayas. "The Metro Cebu has become as urbanized as Manila and hydroponics promises agricultural opportunities for the people of Cebu," said CDA director Carlito Fernandez, who is encouraging cooperatives to venture into urban farming.

Seminar workshops have been scheduled in Cebu (Oct. 11 and 26) Bohol (Oct. 12) and Dumaguete (Oct. 27). Interested parties may contact Mother Earth Hydroponics in Cebu at 309 Garwood Park Hotel Fuente Osmena with tel. No. 253-1131 or cellphone No. 0916-4855176.