Family farm turned farm resort continues to develop to provide travel alternatives amid a pandemic | Published July 5, 2021 | Manila Bulletin | Patricia Bianca Taculao

Among the different sectors in the Philippines that have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic is the tourism industry. Because of the community quarantines, people weren’t allowed to travel to new locations or visit new tourism sites.
This has been the situation since March 15, 2020, when the community quarantine was first imposed throughout the country. A year later, the rules have slowly become more lax and people are looking to get back out again.
Some of the popular tourist sites include farms. Not only do they surround their guests with greenery, but they also have enough space and fresh air to help minimize the risk of people contracting the disease from being near others.
Tom Pestaño, a general manager who currently resides in Pestaño Farm in Antipolo, Rizal since the lockdown started in March 2020, recognized the potential of an agritourism site.
“Our farm has been around since the mid-80s, but I started to develop the agritourism side only last year. Because of the pandemic and halted travel activities, people have been looking for travel alternatives,” he said. Now, he’s working towards developing their family farm to become an agritourism site that people can visit when they get the chance.

What started as a family farm
As Pestaño said, their family farm has been around since the mid-1980s and was started by his parents. Pestaño’s father started their farm by planting hardwood trees and fruit-bearing trees like durian, marang, dragon fruit, mangoes, rambutan, lychees, mangosteen, cacao, and many others. Seeing how his father worked his way around agriculture, Pestaño also picked up the same interest in growing food. When his father died last year, he took over and has been actively running the agriculture side of their farm resort while also thinking of ways to be more welcoming to its guests. Under his supervision, Pestaño and the other workers on the farm planted more fruit-bearing trees like grapes, citruses, strawberries, and vanilla vines. They also planted naturally-grown vegetables and herbs, and naturally raised livestock like chickens, ducks, and sheep. “People can visit and spend a day at an actual working farm. They can pick their fruits, feed the animals, and have picnics in our huts and cottages,” he said.
Aside from the additional fruit trees planted on the farm, Pestaño added various livestock as another attraction for their guests to enjoy when they visit the farm. “We are currently raising rare imported duck breeds such as Mandarin ducks, Carolina wood ducks, Call ducks, Aylesbury ducks, Rouen ducks, and Duclair ducks,” Pestaño said. He added that their fish ponds are also stocked with tilapia and pangasius for their consumption as well as a fishing attraction for their guests. Pangasius refers to the medium-large to very large shark catfishes native to fresh water in South and Southeast Asia. They are also breeding Brahma chickens and other heritage chicken breeds such as Rhode island reds, black Australorps, and Barred Plymouth rocks for their egg-laying purposes. Pestaño added that they are also raising and breeding native sheep. But the chickens do more than just provide eggs and serve as an attraction to farm guests. These also help in fertilizing the fruit trees available on the farm because Pestaño shared that they use compost, chicken manure, carbonized rice hull, and crushed eggshells as a natural input to help boost the production of their fruit trees. The farm is being developed as a farm tourism site where people can enjoy outdoor activities, farm stays, and educational tours.

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