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==[[Marinduque News]]== | ==[[Marinduque News]]== | ||
''' | '''Butterfly Farming''' | ||
*Source: http://www. | *Source: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/358921/butterfly-farming | ||
* | *Sunday, May 6, 2012 | ||
:by | :by FLORO L. MERCENE | ||
MANILA — | MANILA, Philippines — Butterfly farming is a little-known cottage industry, fuelling the tiny economies of dozens of barangays in Boac and Gasan, two of the six municipalities of Marinduque. The incomes the locals earn are enough to send their children to college, with a nice house to boot. | ||
Butterfly release business is now the fad. Let loose during weddings, birthday celebrations, and other large gatherings, the fluttery creatures add a new colorful dimension to any celebration. | |||
Doves, for centuries the symbols of peace and unity, which are released shortly after the wedding formalities, are now considered obsolete. | |||
Today, depending on the species, butterflies command prices ranging from R1 per piece to R20 each. | |||
A minor wedding would have about 500 of them winging their way into the hairs of guests, the wedding cake, on the tables and chairs, bringing joy to children and adults. A thousand butterflies for the well-to-do are now common. | |||
A local hobbyist Romeo Lumawig, from Cawit, Boac, started the trend in 1965 while he was in the elementary grade. He collected wild butterflies and placed them in glass jars. The insects laid eggs which, in four days, turned into caterpillars or larva. | |||
From observation in the nearby forest, Lumawig knew what leaves the caterpillars feed on. He gave some of them leaves from lagaylay, citrus, kaytana, tapias-tapias, ivory, and other native plants. | |||
Each caterpillar will eat only one kind of plant, according to Professor Panchito Labay, of the Marinduque State College. | |||
It was Lumawig who inspired him to write his thesis, “Social History of Butterfly Livelihood in Marinduque.” He presented his papers before an audience of hobbyists and enthusiasts in Hague, Netherlands, during an International Rural Development gathering, sponsored by Ford Foundation. | |||
“Lumawig introduced butterfly farming in Marinduqe, developing the techniques and identifying the host plants that are the food of larva,” Labay said. | |||
Lumawig has since passed away, but not before 11 butterflies were scientifically named after him by Collin Threadaway, an entomologist, based in Germany. | |||
It was to Threadaway that Lumawig had sent his butterfly specimens, which he collected not only in Marinduque but from as far away as Mindoro, Palawan, Leyte, Cebu, and Surigao. | |||
A few of them are: Paruparo lumawigi lumawigi Schroeder, 1976; Paruparo lumawigi panayensis Hayashi, Schroeder & Threadaway, 1984; Atrophaneura sempen Imogene lumawigi Schroeder & Threadaway, 1976. The latter nomenclature Imogene was named after Lumawig’s daughter. | |||
Labay said the butterflies named after Lumawig were sub-species of butterflies found not only in Marinduque but neighboring provinces. | |||
Papilio luzvieae is another butterfly named after Luz Maneng, a daughter of one of Lamawig’s butterfly gatherers. | |||
In his lifetime, Lumawig’s constant companion was Ambrosio Layron, a neighbor. The two of them have combed forests from Batanes to Jolo, gathering butterflies, which initially ended up as framed specimens or embedded in resin, adorning the house of the wealthy abroad. | |||
The Marcos family’s former abode at Makiki Heights, Hawaii, is adorned with the rarest and most stunning butterflies, framed just above the entrance of every door. | |||
Many also ended up in foreign laboratories for identification and further studies. | |||
As he gained in years, Ambrosio took along his son Danny Layron in his gathering expeditions in some of the most formidable forests in the country. The old Layron is gone, leaving behind the business to Danny. | |||
The young Layron and wife Carol, who had sent three children through college farming butterflies, are now only engaged in trading the insects, buying the pupa and butterflies from farmers and selling them through their old contacts in Manila. | |||
They send the insects by airplanes to buyers all over the country. | |||
Carol experimented on what food butterflies preferred most and found out they like ripe papaya, water melon, banana, etc. She also concocted a mixture of water and sugar or honey, which made the insect stronger and able to fight infections. | |||
==[[:Category:Marinduque, Philippines Photo Gallery|Marinduque, Philippines Photo Gallery]]== | ==[[:Category:Marinduque, Philippines Photo Gallery|Marinduque, Philippines Photo Gallery]]== | ||