OCTOBER AGRI MAGAZINE: Special Feature Is Ramgo’s Golden Anniversary, 50 Years Of Making Farmers Rich
The October 2017 issue of Agriculture Magazine carries a special feature on the Golden Anniversary of Ramgo International Corporation. As Pamela Ong Chan, Ramgo president would have it, Ramgo’s story is a sustained commitment of making farmers rich by providing them with quality seeds of high-yielding hybrid vegetables and other high-value crops.
Ramgo was founded by the late Mr. Ramon Go in 1967. It had a very modest beginning with Mr. Go and his wife selling open-pollinated seeds of pechay, mustard, beans and other cultivars at that time. The year that Mr. Go founded Ramgo was also the year when his first child was born – Pamela.
When Mr. Go met an untimely death in 1986, Ramgo’s only hybrid seed was the KK cabbage from a Japanese seed company. Pam who was still studying in college had to pick up the cudgels, so to speak, and continued to run the business that her father started.When Pam took over, she had only two people as her staff. One was her secretary and the other was the family driver who performed all-around jobs like delivering seeds and other errands.Through the years, Pam learned to manage the business the hard way because she did not have any previous experience. But there were well-meaning angels who provided her practical suggestions like George Lee who managed a farm supply store in Benguet.
Ramgo’s big boss, Pamela Ong Chan, showing a violet mustard that is under field trial in its research station in Bongabon, Nueva Ecija.
In 1998 Pam visited Takii where she acquired newly developed radish hybrids that revolutionized radish production in the country. At that time only low-yielding OPVs were grown in the Philippines.
Pam eventually professionalized the operations of Ramgo. She formed a team of agriculturists, sales and marketing team, and collaborated with State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) in evaluating hybrid varieties from foreign seed companies. Eventually, Pam was responsible for introducing high-yielding varieties that produced uniform harvest with superior qualities.
The rest is now history. Ramgo now boasts of more than 200 people working for the company, a big leap from Pam’s staff of two in 1986. Instead of open-pollinated cultivars, Ramgo now boasts of several hybrids that are considered top performers in the field. You will read about them in full in the October issue of Agriculture Magazine which, incidentally, is observing its 20th anniversary. It is also the top-selling agriculture magazine in the country today.
Ramgo’s Heartland carrot is the company’s best-selling variety today.
A smiling Reynaldo Payangdo of Buguias, Benguet, shows his harvest of Heartland carrot.
The Red Beet Boro is a new introduction that is expected to become a new favorie.
The new Maserati shallot is another block buster in the offing. It is grown from seed instead of bulblets, hence less prone to disease infection.
Of course, there are many other interesting features in the October issue. Be sure to have a copy.
