Eastern Visayas

Short Story
Totoy Indic: The Vegetable Farmer Who Ripples His Success
by Hazel Grace T. Taganas

It is five o’clock in the morning and Eleuterio Indic’s house is busy for the full day a head. For
Mr. Indic, or Totoy, as he is fondly called, it is a typical morning where he start his day with
energy and optimism. Mr. Indic has become an icon of hard work and success and other
farmers have followed suit to whatever technologies he applies in his field.

Looking at his fields, one will be impressed at the amount of passion and hard work Mr. Indic
had poured in. In the past, most farmers, including Mr. Indic, planted only string beans. And
without proper technical knowledge, their farm income could barely make ends meet. Life was
hard for Mr. Indic and his family. This all changed when he started attending trainings conducted
by the Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Training Institute-Regional Training Center VIII,
and the local government unit through the City Agriculture Office. He practiced whatever
knowledge he gained on vegetable farming to make it a profitable enterprise. Then he met a
representative of a market-leading company for tropical vegetable seeds in Asia who was
convinced by his enthusiasm and made him their farmer-partner. As their partner, field trials for
their company’s newly developed lines or seed varieties were conducted in his farm. Farm
inputs, technology assistance and sponsored educational trips to successful farms in Mindanao
were just icing of the cake.

Farming became a lucrative business for Mr. Indic. He became more confident in farming. He
then introduced eggplant, sweet corn, siling labuyo and upo as added crops aside from squash,
cucumber, ampalaya and watermelon he usually plants in his farm.

Good planning is what Mr. Indic does best, one of the many traits that contributed to his
success. He is not only a farmer but also a good manager. He sets up his farm plan and comes
up with a list of expenses as well as sales for each crop. He fully utilizes his farm lot especially
for the part where he is paying a monthly rental. This he learned from trainings on
entrepreneurship and farm record keeping.

In preparing for his planting materials, he uses the seeds provided by the seed company. The
seeds, whether big or small, are sown in seedling trays to assure high quality and uniformity
prior transplanting. In planting squash, he prepares the hill where the seedlings will planted, a
technique called ring cultivation. He then digs holes following the recommended planting
distance and place some chicken dung in the hole. He allows the chicken dung to dry under the
sun for 1 week. After a week, he sprays herbicide to kill the weeds. Mr. Indic takes great care
during transplanting. His purpose in following these steps is that he noticed in past cultivation
that disease for squash peak when the field is plowed and harrowed during rainy season.

Mulching is also a technique farmer Indic applies to his farm. He buries the plant refuse of sweet
corn in rows and then adds chicken dung on top, expose the manure to sun for a week after
which he covers it with soil. Then it is ready for planting.

He also adopts balanced fertilization scheme where he uses both organic and inorganic
fertilizers in his crop. Complete fertilizer, chicken dung, urea and foliar fertilizers are used
alternately during the course of planting. Complete fertilizer or chicken dung is placed before
planting. Urea is placed afterwards, particularly during vegetative stage. Mr. Indic puts complete
fertilizer again two months after the first harvest.

As for pest management, he maintains the field sanitation by uprooting diseased plants and
burying them. Regular weeding, manual picking and killing of larvae are also done to avoid
pests and manual picking and killing of pests larvae. Aside from that he puts sticks to both sides
of the stems to prevent the cutworm from cutting through the seedlings. And to avoid pests and
diseases build up, he maintains crop rotation. Only when the pest population becomes so high
that he would resort to use pesticide or fungicide such.

Harvesting is usually done early in the morning at 5:00 o’clock. He sorts the fruits by size and
handles the sacking. Ampalaya produce are covered with banana leaves prior packing to sack
bags to avoid scratches on the fruit skin. Special crates are used for bell pepper and cucumber.
Mr. Indic then deals his produce to his loyal customer who always gives them reasonable price.

Mr. Indic admits life was hard from the start. Growing up in a large family from Sta. Elena,
Tacloban, his dream to study Agronomy or Horticulture at the Visayas state Universtiy was not
realized. Instead, he was forced to study in Tacloban and was eventually forced to stop
schooling due to financial problems. He tried his luck in Cebu and met his wife Conching while
working at the Visayas Electric Cooperative. A year later they returned to Brgy. Sta. Elena and
started their family life in the makeshift nipa hut, no bigger than a copra dryer.

Like the ever expanding ripples across water when a stone is dropped into it, Mr. Indic’s
undeterred perseverance has made a rippling effect on his expertise as a farmer, his family’s
financial income and the knowledge he can share with the other farmers.

Mr. Indic hopes to ripple his success to other farmers by sharing his knowledge and using his
farm as a techno demo plot. In 2013, he was recognized by the Department of Agriculture as
the Outstanding High value Crops Farmer in Region 8 and a finalist in the search for
Outstanding Vegetable Farmer in 2009 by the East-West Seed Company and the Visayas State
University. He was also awarded by the East-West Seed as one of the 30 Regional Champs in
Region 7 and 8 for the inspiring success as a vegetable farmer and positive influence in the
community. In 2011, the City of Government of Tacloban also recognizes his family as Most
Outstanding Farm Family and as Outstanding Farmer of the Year in 2009. Mr. Indic has also
been featured on the Manila Bulletin in 2009 for his remarkable feat in sweet corn production.

Truth has been said that every act creates a ripple with no end. For Mr. Indic and his family,
they have created a rippling effect for him and his community.