Posts Tagged "Asian crisis"
Busy… Busy
I am busy with the preparation for my mothers’s 1st year death anniversary. Being the only person her in the country with the exception of my father– who is otherwise preoccupied, I am expected to do the logistics and what not.
Aside from the task of preparing for the anniversary, my son is celebrating his 3rd birthday on my Mom’s anniversary too. Think about hitting two birds with one stone… The finale of my mom’s 9 day novena will be celebrated with a simple meal for all the prayergoers. I am still playing around the menu and since I have no idea about the turnaround of people for this event, I am swinging it and serving things simple.
The birthday of my son will be simple too. It would be his first birthday here in rural Mindanao, and having tons of blood relatives, the turnaround for this birthday is extimated at around 50. I am thinking of simple Pinoy fare as well.
Lastly, whew, I am busy with my other blogs. As you all know, I am still contributing to Pinoy Travel Blog and Pinoy Urban Blog. And I am still looking for a host for my new blog– Frugal Pinoy. Would it be refreshing to read about how now a single mother is doing with the economic and financial effects of the Asian Crisis and separation? Well, I am looking for a great and reliable hosting service for Frugal Pinoy. Any suggestions?
Read MoreRice Production– A Learning Opportunity
I had the opportunity to watch a friend operate her rice business. She owns hectares of land grown with rice and she co-owns a couple of hectares with other farmers as well. I watched her bargain with a farmer about buying their unmilled rice and drying and milling the rice herself and selling it through her thriving store here in rural Misamis Oriental.
It is really amazing watching her actively bargaining the purchase from P11/kg to P10/kgs of unmilled rice. According to her, one sack of unmilled rice would net her 10-15 kgs of rice which is currently still sold at a thundering P35/kg here. The price of rice has gone down a bit from P46/kg. From where am at, I guessed that she must be profiting P20-25 per kilo of rice. Not bad!!!
I asked her how she manages her farms and she said as usual the key is finding a reliable and trust worthy farmer-overseer. Having worked with a huge production farm in Negros years ago, I had more or less some understanding on land preparation needed for rice production. What I lack right now is land. My friend actually asked me if I am interested in financing some farmers in our area, since most farmers here have problem with money to start seeding, planting to fertilization of their rice. Not mention, harvesting, drying and threshing of rice during harvest season… I asked her how much it would cost to do so. She quickly whipped her calculator out and said more or less P2,000 for 2 square paddies and that usually yields to 30 sacks of unmilled rice, which would in turn yield 12-15 sacks of 50kgs of rice. At the current price of P35 let’s say, gets P1750/sack. In total she’d get P26,250 total for 15 sacks of rice.
I am interested in co-sharing or financing rice production with some of the growers here. I do have P5,000-10,000 to pay around with and with P2,000 or more for a couple of paddies which would yield P20,000 or more… that is actually NOT so bad at all. The thing with rice production is it is labor intensive. Like for example, land preparation and planting would take a couple of days and a couple of people. Not to mention the one week of drying period before the rice is milled.
I asked my friend how she pays her farmers and she said she pays them with rice also. Sharing usually goes 60-20-20. 60 for the financier, and 20 to the farmer and another 20 for the rest who helped with the planting and fertilization. But mostly, these other farmers needed more cash and they end up selling their share to her also.
Not bad at all… Now if only I could find a farmer who needed a financier soon…
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Read MoreJollibee’s Champ at P115!
I cannot believe that Jollibee’s Champ is now P115. For my children, Jollibee is a mecca and they are still enamored with the red bee as ever. It is a good thing my children does not favor the burgers as much as the chicken and the burger steak meal. Having four rascals on my heels every time we hit the city, and the usual request is a meal at “Ja-bee.”
Good thing my children are plain at hearts and only asks for Burger Steak with Rice and the usual fries and coke and yes, they love the peach mango pies. For a family of 5, a meal at Jollibee costs more or less P500.
Read MoreSh*t
One thing I found out today… when it rains, my dial up turns to nada… Darn…
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Read MoreEconomic Effects of Separation
One of the hardest things that I have discovered after leaving my husband was the fact that I was also leaving the image I had become accustomed to. I am not talking about the ritzy house and vehicle I used to drive, but the fact that economically, everything had changed. Not only that the economy in the Philippines had become harder to the regaular Juans and Pedros, but the daily increase of the price of daily commodities is hitting me along with the rest so hard I cannot keep tabs of the price of rice and oil everyday. I have also sworn off watching the news but instead opted for RSS feeds directly from Inquirer, and thats it.
I cannot believe how it is now for the rest, especially those living in the urban areas. Here where I’m at, we can still buy fish at P60 a kilo (fresh catch, and straight from the fishermen). Vegetables are still planted in small patches on land and readily shared to neighbors. Imagine me asking for a few sprigs of alugbati or malunggay..
I had tried to shield my children from the full effect of the economic changes my family is experiencing after I decided to leave. It was difficult because our shopping behavior had change and I am glad my children are not used to constant shopping but they have noticed indeed that we have stopped dining out. We used to frequent Outback, Italianni’s and Starbucks. No designer’s coffee and chocolate drinks for me and the children. But I have tried to maintain the food we are used to eating. No downgrades there, except for the decrease in bacon, hotdogs and pancakes each morning.
I can only imagine how other women like me are managing their lives. I wanted to work right away, but the problem is that if I do, I would need to entrust my babies to maids and other relatives. Having raised my children without much hired help, I simply am having trouble justifying getting paid for something like P15,000 for a month over not seeing your children nor overseeing their studies and preparing their meals. For now, the lease that I am getting for our house in the city is sufficient enough to get us through comfortably.
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