3rd International Exposition on Foodservice, Catering Systems, Specialty Foods, Beverages & Wines, Food Franchising, Supplies, Equipment & Technology

Small Businesses targeting trade buyers and customers would be interested in visiting and perhaps joining exhibits related to their respective industries. In March 4 to 6 at the World Trade Center in Pasay City the Trade Advertising Exhibitions & Conventions International, Inc. (Tradecon, Inc) will stage its 3rd Philippine International Food and Beverage Expo (PIFBEX 2010) .

Tradecon, Inc. president Mildred Caballero said the three-day event will bring together food and beverage industry players and professionals from all over the Philippine and the world to interact, transact and explore limited business opportunities among themselves.

“The expo will feature programs and activities that offer a timely opportunity to create consumer awareness on new developments on food and beverages and directly promote them in the market and among shoppers, inspired food buyers and enthusiasts,” Caballero said.

PIFBEX 2010 targets over 18,000 trade buyers and guests who are expected to the fair that will showcase everything on food and beverages, as well as food franchising and business systems.

It also aims to open the gateway to further trade expansion and reach by offering innovative business opportunities to decision-makers and new potential customers on the latest machinery, equipment and technology related to food processing, handling and packaging.

EXHIBIT PROFILE

• FOOD PRODUCTS

Confectionary / Canned Food / Processed Food / Milk and butter products/ Instant products Natural Food / Herb/Herbal Products / Vegetable, root, fruit of dried and fresh / Vegetable Oil Sugar / Food Ingredients, Food Additives, derivative products / Fresh & Raw Aquatic products Frozen Aquatic Products; Catfish, fish, crab, shrimp, cuttlefish / Processed aquatic product: Salted fish, steamboar, aquatic products cake,

• BEVERAGE PRODUCTS

Tea, Coffee / Liquors {Spirits liquor, wine, cocktails champagne, rum,...) / Beer (bottle, keg, fresh beer) / Non-alcohol drinking water / Gas & Non-gas of soft drink / Mineral & pure water / Fibre, vitamin, nutrition, fruit water,

• DIET/ HEALTH FOODS

Virgin Coconut Oil/ Dietary Supplements / Diabetic Products / Ginseng & Ginseng Products / Health Supplements & Vitamins / Herbal Jelly / Natural Health Foods / Organic Foods / Traditional Health Foods & Supplements,

• PROCESSING MACHINERY & EQUIPMENT

Assorted Food & Beverage Processing Equipment / Drink, Juice Processing / Equipment / Food Sterilizing Machinery & Equipment / Bakery & Confectionery Equipment / Agricultural Product Processing / Fruit & Vegetable Processing, Bakery System / Flour Mill / Cleaning, Sanitary Systems & Equipment,

• TECHNOLOGY EQUIPMENT

Flavor, Pulp & Paste Making Machinery, Equipment / Pasteurizing Equipment / Freezing & Cold Storage / Food Canning & Bottling Equipment / Refrigeration Systems, Compartment / Food Dryers, Food Equipment & Supplies / Cleaning, Washing Equipment / Forming, Feeding & Filling Machinery / Display Shelf / Cabinets, Tables, Other Related Machinery,

• RESTAURANT, HOTEL & CATERING EQUIPMENT, SUPPLIES & SERVICES
Bar & Coffee Equipment & Supplies / Foodservice Equipment / Vending & Dispensing Equipment / Laundry Equipment / Refrigeration Equipment / Storage Systems / Cleaning Equipment & Supplies,

• TRADE FRANCHISE, CONSULTANCY, SPECIALIST SKILL TRAINING PROGRAM OF FOOD & DRINK PROCESSING AND PRESERVING

VISITOR’S PROFILE

* Retailer / Department Stores / Malls
* Drink Importer / Distributor / Wholesaler
* Food Importer / Distributor / Wholesaler
* Fast Food Restaurant / Hotel
* Food Services Government / Military, School Hospital
* Food Service Industrials / Offshore
* Food Service Consultants
* Bakery / Confectionery Manufacturers
* Restaurants / Bar/ Club/ Café
* Fast Food Restaurants / Supermarket / Grocery Stores / Convenient Stores
* Food Manufacturer / Producer / Supplier/Custom Processing; Packaging; Bottles; Chemicals / Plastics, Recycling Machinery & Equipment; Hardware
* Tools / Molds; Bags / Wraps & Linens; Houseware / Food Consultants, Chemists, Food Expert

For inquiries and updates on PIFBEX 2010, please call 482-5318, 395-5009 or e-mail tradecon.inc@gmail.com

Source and photo courtesy of www.pifbex.com

Farmer's guide to companion planting

By Henrylito D. Tacio

EVER heard of companion planting? It is based around the idea that certain plants can benefit others when planted next to, or close to one another. It exists to benefit certain plants by giving them pest control, naturally without the need to use chemicals, and in some cases they can give a higher crop yield.

Companion planting, considered to be a form of polyculture, is used by farmers and gardeners in both industrialized and developing countries for many reasons.

Researchers have proven that by having a beneficial crop in a nearby field that attracts certain insects away from a neighboring field that has the main crop can prove very beneficial.


Companion planting exists in a physical way. For example, tall-growing, sun-loving plants may share space with lower-growing, shade-tolerant species, resulting in higher total yields from the land.

Planting tall or dense-canopied plants may protect more vulnerable plants through shading or by providing a windbreak. In some instances, the benefit is derived when companion plants provide a good environment for beneficial insects, and other arthropods, especially those predatory and parasitic species that help to keep pest populations in check.

Other ways that companion planting can be beneficial is to plant a crop like legumes on an area where it will feed nitrogen into the soil, then it will not be necessary to use any chemical fertilizers for the next crop.

Unfortunately, there are other plants that slow down each other's growth. These crops should not be grown together. Experts call this phenomenon as antagonistic planting.

Now, here's a list of vegetable crops with their companion plants and antagonistic plants (culled from various sources):

Amaranth: A tropical annual that needs hot conditions to flourish. Good with sweet corn; its leaves provide shade giving the corn a rich, moist root run. Also, amaranth is host to predatory ground beetles.

Ampalaya: This all-year round vegetable can be grown along with trellised lima bean, yard-long bean, and winged bean.

Asparagus: Friend of tomato, parsley, basil, and marigold. Avoid planting asparagus with onion, garlic and potato.

Basil: Plant with tomato to improve growth and flavor. Basil also does well with peppers, oregano, asparagus and petunias. It can be helpful in repelling thrips. Basil is said to repel flies and mosquitoes.

Beans: All beans enrich the soil with nitrogen fixed from the air. Generally, they are good company for carrot, celery, corn, eggplant, peas, potato, beets, radish, and cucumber. Beans are great for heavy nitrogen users like corn because beans fix nitrogen from the air into the soil so the nitrogen used up by the corn are replaced at the end of the season when the bean plants die back. Keep beans away from the alliums.
Cabbage: Potato, celery, dill, and onion are good companion plants. Celery improves growth and health. It does not get along with tomato, peppers, eggplant, grapes and pole sitao.

Carrot: Its pals are leaf lettuce, leek, peas, onion and tomato. Keep dill away from carrot. One drawback with tomato and carrot when planted together: tomato plants can stunt the growth of the carrots but the latter will still be of good flavor.

Cassava: It gets along well with sweet potato, swamp cabbage, pechay, alugbati, lettuce, garlic, golden squash, and peanut.

Celery: Among its companions are beans, cabbage, leek, onion, and tomato. Its foe: corn.

Corn: Grown best with amaranth, beans, cucumber, melons, parsley, peanut, peas, potato, soybean, squash, and sunflower. Keep corn away from celery and tomato plants.

Cucumber: Cucumber is great to plant with corn and beans. The three plants like the same conditions: warmth, rich soil and plenty of moisture. Let the cucumbers grow up and over the corn plants. A great duet is to plant cucumber with sunflower. The sunflower provides a strong support for the vines. Cucumber also does well with peas, beets, radish, and carrot. Radish is a good deterrent against cucumber beetles. Dill planted with cucumbers helps by attracting beneficial predators. Keep potato away from cucumber.

Eggplant: Plant with amaranth, beans, peas, swamp cabbage, golden squash, radish, and marigold. Eggplant is a member of the nightshade family and does well with peppers. Avoid planting potato near eggplant.

Garlic: This spice crop accumulates sulfur: a naturally occurring fungicide which will help in the garden with disease prevention. Garlic is systemic in action as it is taken up the plants through their pores and when garlic tea is used as a soil drench it is also taken up by the plant roots.

Lettuce: Does well with beet, bush bean, pole bean, cabbage, carrot, cucumber, onion, and radish. It grows happily in the shade under young sunflowers.

Onion: Planting chamomile with onion improves the former's flavor. Other companions: carrot, leek, beet, dill, lettuce, and tomato. Intercropping onion and leek with your carrot confuses the carrot and onion flies! Keep onion away from peas, beans, and asparagus.

Peas: Companions for peas are bush beans, pole beans, carrots, celery, corn, cucumber, eggplant, parsley, radish, and sweet pepper. Do not plant peas with onion, garlic, and potato.

Potato: The following may be planted with potato: bush bean, cabbage, carrot, celery, corn, marigold, peas, and onion. Don't plant these around potato: asparagus, cucumber, squash, and sunflower. Keep potato and tomato apart as they both can get early and late blight contaminating each other.

Tomato: Grown along with asparagus, parsley, cabbage, onion, radish, garlic and carrot. Tomato protects asparagus from asparagus beetles while asparagus protects tomato from nematodes. Planted with garlic, the latter repels red spider mite. Don't grow potato and tomato with each other; potato inhibits tomato growth while tomato renders potato more susceptible to blight.

How to start a micro lending business

People in times of crisis would try to do anything to extend the budget. But budgeting can only extend the budget so much that is why we hear teachers selling longanisa, others would put up small homes businesses like sari sari store, join MLM of certain products like Avon and others. Many would try the internet to look for husbands overseas hoping to marry a rich foreigner, and others with skill and courage would apply for jobs overseas. But when the need for money is immediate – most people would go to credit lending agencies.

This is what the whole post is all about. How to start a micro lending business to meet the lending needs of many of our kababayans. Generally, lending firms are more lenient in their requirements, offer lower interest rates, and process loan applications faster. You're immediate competition is the predatory lending of Bombays that offers 5-6. We suggest you offer lower lending rates, preferably 5% or less.

Here are some information and advices:

1. A credit lending business can be a single proprietorship, partnership, or corporation. You cannot use the word "lending" or "finance" in your business name if you set up your lending business as a single proprietorship or partnership. You can only use those words only if your company is a corporation. A corporation has advantages that a single proprietorship or a partnership doesn't have.

2. You need to raise the required minimum capital of P1 million and then register your business with the Securities and Exchange Commission or SEC (www.sec.gov.ph). The usual permits and documents required in setting up a business will be required i.e. Mayor's permit, certification from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), and Social Security System, Philhealth, and Pag-IBIG coverage for the people you will be employing in the business.

3. In micro-lending without quasi-banking activities, may cater to employees, pensioners, sari-sari store owners, market stall-holders, and OFWs. OFWs usually require bigger loan amounts that start at P50,000, but it is advisable for start-ups to lend smaller amounts with short payment terms. This will make repayments faster and enable you to loan out money to more borrowers.

4. Micro-lending usually doesn't require collateral from the borrower. It only requires the borrower and the co-maker to sign a promissory note and submit other documents. However, for loans of P50,000 and higher, you should ask for collateral from the borrower. Any item that is of value can be used as collateral, such as jewelry, real estate, or vehicle, for as long as the borrower owns it. If the business of credit lending have grown you may have to think about asset based lending or home lending or vehicle lending. Credit lending with collateral is much safer.

5. You can start this business with three employees: one to take care of releasing loans, a second to collect payments, and a third either as bookkeeper or accountant on retainer.

There you go. If you are an OFW that just returned from overseas and is looking for a lucrative business, you can try micro-lending that offers reasonable lending rates.

Good Luck.

Equipment and Machinery for Rice Production

This entry is for our rice farmers who searching for equipment and machineries to augment their incomes and rice production. The Openacademy for Philippine Agriculture has the following machinery to help our farmers:

PhilRice Rototiller

• Lightweight, portable, and detachable assembly
• Cheaper alternative to floating tiller
• Transportable
• Maximizes the use of the handtractor
• High puddling capacity, adjustable depth (15 cm max.)
to fit with various soil conditions
• Low fuel consumption
• Easy to fabricate, repair, and maintain using locally
available materials and fabrication tools

PhilRice Improved Drum Sedder

• Simple, low cost, and easy to fabricate using local
materials
• Portable and lightweight
• Can be used both for dryland and wetland seeding
• Rice grains seeded in straight rows, allowing mechanical
weeding between rows
• Adjustable seeding rate
• Seeds are partially buried in furrows, hence, they are
protected against rodents and birds

PhilRice-JICA Handtractor-Drawn Drum Seeder

• High seeding capacity of 3-5 ha/day by 2 persons
• Adjustable seeding rates of 40-120 kg/ha regulated by
covering lines of drum holes
• Minimizes effect of water puddles in the field
• Easy to operate as attachment to the hand tractor
• Can be easily fabricated by local manufacturers
• Row seeding for easy crop care; allows use of mechanical
weeder

For more information:

Open Academy for Philippine AgricultureFTIC Building, PhilRice Compound, Science City of Munoz, 3119 Nueva EcijaTelefax: +63 (44) 4565390Local: +63 (44) 4560561 local 502Email: opapa@openacademy.ph or prri@philrice.gov.ph

Tips on how to save money

1. Visualize your goal. Plans require a goal, and a financial plan is no exception. Be honest with yourself and identify what goal or goals you want to achieve in the future. Such goals may include getting out of debt, investing in a condominium unit, or establishing a retirement fund. Whatever your goal/s is/are, write it down to help you remember it.

2. Have a money notebook or file. If you are the pen-and-paper type of person, buy a nice notebook or journal. If you are high tech and prefer to go paperless, start with a spreadsheet on your computer. These files, whether on paper or electronic form, should contain your budget, a record of actual expenses, a list of your payables, and your payment plan for debts.

3. Write down your budget. Every person desiring to be financially secure should have a working budget which would set down the parameters of one's spending. Based on your income, make provision for savings (at least 10 percent), then allot the rest for your usual expenditure items. Put a spending limit on each expense item. Be guided by your budget throughout the month.

4. List down your expenses-everything, from candy to big-ticket purchases and bills. By listing down your expenditures, you will be able to compare your spending against your budget. If you are overspending, find out the reason and take steps to curb the habit.

5. Have a monthly spending limit. Put a monthly spending limit on your purchases. It should be an amount you can afford, taking into account your other budgeted expenses monthly. If you own a credit card, make sure you don't spend more than you can afford to pay. It is good to have a credit card as you will be able to purchase items even if you don't have the cash on hand as of the moment, but use it wisely.

6. If you are heavily in debt, stop spending. You may do so literally (some have done so) to stop yourself from further burying yourself in debt. Stick to the essentials, and forego luxuries from now, even small things like taking a taxi to work, when there are cheaper means of transportation available.

7. Shop in bulk for items you need regularly. Great bargains may be had at warehouse clubs or discount stores. If the number of items per bulk purchase is too much for your small household, split the purchase with a family member or friend.

8. Prepare for the future. Take out health insurance and life insurance, especially if you are the breadwinner of the family. This will protect your family from financial burden if you get sick or when you pass away.

9. Have a "money buddy." Ask your spouse or best friend to regularly check on your money habits and hold you accountable for your money makeover steps. By having someone check on you, chances are you will be more motivated to meet your goals.

10. Spend less. It's a simple rule that most people ignore. But it really works if you want to be financially secure. Before buying anything-that goes for literally anything, from grocery items to cars-compare prices. Choose the best quality at the lowest cost. Check the Internet or newspaper advertisements for prices of items you are interested to buy. And when you see a promotion, take advantage of it if it will bring you added benefits. Be a smart shopper.

These are only some money makeover tips you can easily do. Start doing them this week; don't delay. We wish you the best!

Source: Inquirer.net

How to register your new business

Your new business has to be registered with the appropriate government agencies. This should be considered, whenever possible, as the first steps in putting up a business.

So, for example if you want to go in retail business - retail is a broad term. If what you have is a sari-sari store, then you have to:

* Register your business name with the Department of Trade and Industry.
* Obtain a barangay clearance.
* Secure a Mayors Permit.
* Get a TIN from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (A lot of sari-sari stores do not bother, but getting one will save you a lot of trouble later).

There may be some variations in the registration process depending on the location and type of business so be sure to ask the relevant government offices. Below is a table showing the steps to take in registering your business whether it’s a sole proprietorship, partnership or corporation, and cooperative. We hope that this table will answer a number of your questions. Just click on the squares to view the requirements you need to get from each government agency given the type of your business.

Steps in Registering your Business with Government (Sole Proprietorship/Partnership)

Register your business name with the Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) - www.dti.gov.ph
Register with the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) (Partnership only) - www.sec.gov.ph
Obtain the permit to do business from the local government unit (LGU)
Get a TIN for your business from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) - www.bir.gov.ph
Register your business & employees for social benefits with the Social Security System (SSS) - www.sss.gov.ph
Register with the Department of Labor & Employment (DOLE) if your business has five or more employees - www.dole.gov.ph

Even if you are a government employee, there is nothing that should prevent you from going into business — as long as you put in the time that is required by your office and you abide by the rules and regulations of your office.

As for record-keeping, the UP Institute for Small Scale Industries offers a course called Accounting for Non-Accountants. You can call them at (02) 928-7076 to 78 and ask for details.

Source: www.eyp.ph