Weekend Farms

For Filinvest Land Inc. vice-chairman Andrew Gotianun, Jr., the hardest part in a project is choosing its name. It took him almost a week before he came up with the name of the company’s first venture in farm estate, Nusa Dua.

"Everybody else had a nipa hut or bahay kubo concept. I thought a Balinese theme would be more classy," Gotianun said, referring to that part of Bali where the richest of the rich build their homes.

The 200-hectare Nusa Dua Farm Estate, a former cane plantation in Tanza, Cavite, with an impoundment lake of the National Irrigation Administration flowing through it, is one of many large tracts of land bought by FLI during the boom years. To reduce its current excess inventory, FLI has been coming up with innovative ways to wholesale land.

"People these days want value for their money," said Gotianun, who concurrently heads FLI’s affordable housing sector.

One strategy is to go into farm estate, which carries a third of the development cost of a residential subdivision. The lower development cost of farm estates could be traced to two major factors. One, a farm lot buyer does not expect the same amenities as a residential lot buyer. Two, laws governing the development of a farm estate are more lenient than those governing the development of a residential subdivision. Open canals, for example, are allowed in farm estates.

Retiree’s dream

"We intend to tap into the dream of many Filipinos to go back home to the province and retire in a farm," said FLI business development manager Gilbert Ang. "Our market for Nusa Dua are those who currently live in the city five days a week but want a secondary weekend home, which could eventually be the primary home once they retire."

That dream is apparently strong even within FLI. Among FLI’s 30-man senior management, only three (two of them women) could not see themselves spending part of their retirement in a farm.

Gotianun, who lived most of his life in San Juan, bought into the dream several years back. "I am an example of Nusa Dua’s market," he said, his fingernails clean of dirt. "I decide what fruits and vegetables should be planted and I decide what to do with the harvest. Given my workload, however, I don’t really have time to do the daily farm chores," he said.

Gotianun has, however, learned a thing or two about farm management, which he has incorporated into Nusa Dua. "To be a gentleman-farmer, you need to be organized. You have to know as quickly as possible, for example, where you can rent a tractor for a couple of days or where to buy your fertilizer when there are no economies of scale," he said.

Economies of scale will not be a problem at Nusa Dua, where 75% of the property will be sold to individuals. On the balance 25%, FLI will build facilities such as a commissary, which will serve as a one-stop convenience store for farm products and equipment, as well as amenities such as picnic grounds and swimming pool. "We want our farm buyers to bring their families with them when they visit," Ang said.

The estate will be developed in 10 phases at an aggregate cost of P256 million, exclusive of the cost of land. Phase one, which covers 20 hectares, will be broken into 150 lots, each lot averaging 750 square meters at an initial cost of P1,500/sqm. Homes are allowed in the property so long as they do not take up more than 25% of the property and so long as the exterior look of the home–which need not look Balinese–is done in earth colors.

The development of Nusa Dua will be completed within four years. "If the concept sells, we’ve got properties in San Mateo, Batangas and Bulacan which we could turn into farm estates," said Gotianun.

Showcase

The Nusa Dua Farm Estate broke ground last April 7. A demo farm, which will showcase high-value crops such as red peppers and mangosteen as well as different technologies such as hydroponics, will be set up at the Filinvest Corporate City in Alabang by June to give prospective buyers ideas on how their farms can look like.

"We’re accepting reservations or earnest money of P20,000," said Ang. "We’re not yet pre-selling because we still do not have the permit to sell." Before it can start selling farm lots, FLI must get signatures from 39 government agencies, must be issued 48 permits and must meet 188 government requirements. The current timetable to meet all these government conditions is 24 months.

To date, Nusa Dua has gotten most of the government documents, including the sought-after clearance from the Department of Agrarian Reform to subdivide the property into smaller farm lots.

FLI intends to offer three packages for Nusa Dua buyers, which can be funded through the Pag-IBIG Fund. The packages range from the farm lot alone to the farm lot and the construction of the house to the farm lot and the construction of both the house and the greenhouse.

"There is no such thing as making money from a small farm," said Gotianun. "What we offer is the pleasure of seeing things grow and knowing these came from your property." – MJ Grey