Here's a thoughtful idea for your wife's farm. Her 8-hectare plot could become a food forest that earns money. The plan is split into four zones: 2.6 hectares of fruit trees, 2.1 hectares of vegetables, 5,000 square meters of algae (she's still considering this), and 2.5 hectares of goats, cattle, fish, and some trees. The remaining land is for spices, experimental plots, solar power, water, and several engineering systems.
Current vegetable prices (farm-gate):
Eggplant 🍆 - 50
Lemon 🍋 - 30
Chili 🌶🌶🌶 - 120–150 per kg
Visayan chicken 🐔 - 220 per kg
Lemons, papayas, chilies, and eggplants grow with little labor and few demands. You just plant them and harvest. I'm not sure if we're doing this right, but this is how we're trying it. A few months ago we also had a mango harvest.
The idea is this:
1) Farming:
Initial investment - $100,000–150,000
Operating costs - $500–800 per month
Net income - a free lifestyle plus $1,000–3,000
This varies depending on the activity.
2) Manufacturing and exports in general. Selling into the Philippine market is a real obstacle to scaling up because of competition, bureaucracy, and corruption. Build something in a market where there are few Philippine competitors and where you can control the buyers who import the product. For example, value-added agricultural products, minerals, or any manufactured goods.
P.S.: I'm not a blogger, and I don't know how to make videos or speak on camera. So please just skip over that.
Here are a few photos of the chilies and eggplants we started growing and actually sold.
Please keep us updated on your progress. My wife and I, married 38 years, bought a small coconut grove in Leyte and a small mango grove in Bohol last year. I have a contact in Germany, and I'm thinking of producing small amounts of cold-pressed coconut oil for cosmetics. I'm looking into it. We don't take the business profits too seriously; it's mostly a hobby farm.
I wouldn't call 8 hectares a small farm. That's nearly 20 acres.
As someone who worked in global agricultural trade and logistics before retiring and now runs a farm here, I'm sorry to say you should forget about exporting. Unfortunately, the scale is far too small to export, and the Philippine vegetable export market is limited to a few specialty crops. You could sell locally, but you'll run into the same problems everyone does: prices swing wildly and everything is seasonal. We specialize in various local varieties and hybrids, so we offer something a little different, and if possible, that's the way to go. Look for a niche with crops that are sustainable and suited to the microclimate of your area. I wish you the best with your business. It's hard work, but it's rewarding once you get established.
You didn't mention where you are. There are over 7,000 islands, and climate conditions vary widely. Our dragon fruit farm sells at 130 per kg at the farm gate, and buyers pick it themselves. We're in Mindanao.
You mentioned fish too. Have you considered raising crayfish? They're much easier and hardier.
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