TACLOBAN CITY – A dragon fruit farm celebrating its harvest festival shares its story of resilience after being hit by Supertyphoon 'Yolanda' (Haiyan) in 2013.
Jose Castillejos Jr., the owner and school administrator of Pitahaya Farm, recalled how he was able to rebuild their 1.2-hectare farm from the rummage left by the deadliest typhoon to have ever hit the city.
Pitahaya means dragon fruit in Spanish. The name dragon fruit originated in Asia.
Some people believe that it was formed to describe a bright-colored fruit with chunky scale skin resembling a dragon scale and fire-like appearance.
Dragon fruit is known for its numerous health benefits such as promoting food digestion, better immune system, and lowering blood pressure, sugar, and risks of cancer.
"This farm is an expression of God's covenant to us as a family. We were given this rare fruit to show his love to us that I instill in my three children," he shared.
After a year of staying in Manila to be with his family, Castillejos visited their farm that he was supposed to experience its first fruiting season when 'Yolanda' hit on November 8, 2013.
To his surprise, although the farm has been completely flattened, his dragonfruit plants were able to survive the wrath of the typhoon.
There he discovered the plant's resilience just like how the survivors in Tacloban are being described.
He used the concept of reducing, reusing, and recycling to revive their farm because it was difficult and expensive to source construction materials during that time.
He bought the scaffoldings from a collapsed covered court of a school and made them into posts with trellis for the dragon fruit.
"I had no knowledge then how to grow dragon fruit. People were amazed how we grow them uniquely so when this was spotted by the ATI, they helped us become a demo farm in terms of dragon fruit growing in the region," he added.
Since Pitahaya became known for its dragon fruit, government agencies started partnering with Castillejos who is now an Organic Agriculture Production NCII instructor.
The farm is now an accredited farm school by the Technological Education Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and a school for practical agriculture by the Department of Agriculture- Agricultural Training Institute (ATI).
They also offer the production of high-quality inbreed rice seed certification and farm mechanization.
Since Pitahaya became a farm school in 2017, they were able to produce at least 15 batches with 20 students per batch.
The farm boasts of its organic produce such as free-range chickens, lettuce, and other fruits and vegetables.
They are also able to help reduce the city's solid waste by collecting market wastes and turning them into vermicasts for fertilizer.
Castillejos shared that their next goal is to be an agri-tourism farm to showcase their value-added products from dragon fruit such as dragon fruit shake, pandesal, and cheesecake.
Since August is the peak season for harvesting dragon fruit, which yields over 40 kgs. per harvest, Castillejos and his children decided to offer pick-and-pay to the public.
"This blessing is meant to be shared with others. During the lockdown, I offered free basic training to our neighbors who are now growing their plants. I was also able to make a training module for basic dragon fruit growing that I intend to share," he said.