Ilocos Norte watermelon clustered farms earn ₱9M net profit

BOUNTIFUL HARVEST. Watermelon farmers in Barangay Casilian, Bacarra, Ilocos Norte transact with buyers in this undated photo. They shared that their profits reached PHP9 million, just a little over two months after planting high-yielding varieties on a 50-hectare clustered farm. (Photo courtesy of Ilocos Norte Provincial Agriculture)

LAOAG CITY, Philippines — Watermelon farmers in Barangay Casilian, Bacarra, Ilocos Norte, earned a combined net profit of ₱9 million just over two months after planting high-yielding varieties on a 50-hectare clustered farm.

Fredie Marc Bagaoisan, president of the Zanjera Casilian Irrigators Association Inc., attributed the success to the provincial government’s clustered farming program, which pooled the resources of 93 farmer-members and provided ₱1.6 million worth of agricultural inputs.

“Thank you to our governor and the provincial government of Ilocos Norte for the continued support to us farmers,” Bagaoisan said.

The farmers received hybrid and open-pollinated watermelon seeds, plastic mulch, seedling trays, foliar fertilizers, and inorganic fertilizers as part of the aid.

The watermelons were planted in March and matured in just over two months.

Even before the harvest, the association secured buyers not only in Metro Manila—such as Dizon Farms in Taguig City—but also in nearby provinces including Cagayan, Tuguegarao, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, Pampanga, and Pangasinan.

The provincial government also provided a backhoe and fuel subsidy to help desilt more than eight hectares of typhoon-damaged land, allowing early cultivation.

Records showed that from the 50-hectare farm, farmers earned a net profit of ₱180,000 per hectare, after deducting an average production cost of ₱100,000 per hectare.

The initiative aligns with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s directive for the Department of Agriculture to consolidate farms and fisheries into clusters to improve efficiency and productivity.

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