Army eyeing squash farm

MANILA, Philippines - From turning parts of a military reservation into a jathropa plantation, the Army’s 7th Infantry Division is now planning to cultivate squash in an idle land inside Fort Ramon Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, an offial said.

Maj. Charlemagne Batayola, 7th ID spokesman told The STAR in an interview that they are initially planning to set aside five hectares of the sprawling camp for the project, which is part of the government’s food security program.

“We are studying this because squash is the ideal crop for summer since it doesn’t require much water,” he said.

Batayola, however, clarified that the project would not affect the existing jathropa plantations inside Fort Magsaysay, which is the largest military camp in the country.

The Army’s jathropa cultivation and development project, which could reduce the country’s dependence on imported crude oil and cushion the impact of rising fuel costs, is currently in a quandary due to the lack of funding support from the government.

Batayola said they would try to develop the rotation of vegetable crops and propagate those that are easy to grow during varying seasons of the year.

Lt. Col. Jesus Sarsagat, who used to head the project, said that since 2006, they have not received support to sustain the propagation of jathropa curcas, locally known as “tuba-tuba,” causing the project to be stalled.

Sarsagat told The STAR that from 105 hectares of the Fort Ramon Magsaysay military reservation area in Nueva Ecija planted with jathropa, it was reduced to 30 hectares due to lack of funds.