Joy of farming reintroduced in Benguet

OFFICIALS and educators of the upland farming town of Kibungan in Benguet fear that no one will be left to till the soil unless the youth are encouraged to find joy and fulfillment in farming.

“We have to reintroduce the joy of farming even to school children,” says Daniel Pascaden, principal of Kibungan Central School. Pascaden recalls that during his grade school, gardening was part of a subject on work education where pupils were encouraged to plant vegetables on idle lots on campus.

So when classes open in June, Pascaden says he and his teachers will embark on “Gulayan sa Paaralan” (school garden), a project which aims to make full use of idle lots while teaching pupils the reward of cultivating vegetables.

The teachers say they will also encourage the children to include in their diet the crops they themselves will grow.

“The Gulayan sa Paaralan can also be a way to teach children the discipline and techniques of organic farming,” Mayor Benito Siadto says.

Organic vegetables, Siadto notes, have a growing niche market that Kibungan residents must also explore.

To be integrated with the school garden project is entrepreneurship. Pupils can sell extra crops at the school’s cooperative store or in the town’s stores.

A nationwide initiative of the Department of Education, the Gulayan sa Paaralan also aims to encourage the youth to eventually pursue college courses related to helping secure and ensure the country’s food self-sufficiency.

Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala has acknowledged the need to encourage children to finally take over the country’s farms.

Farming pays

“But we have to show that farming pays,” Alcala told a forum attended by farmers in La Trinidad town.

He signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the provincial and municipal governments, the Benguet State University, and the Benguet Farmers Marketing Cooperative, which would pave the way for the construction of the Agri-Pinoy Trading Center this year.

Alcala cites farmers in his native Quezon. “If a farmer there is asked about his occupation, he would say with pride, ‘Magsasaka, bakit (Farmer, why)?’” he says.

“Farmers in Quezon have high levels of self-esteem because they have money in their pockets,” he says in Filipino.

On the other hand, many children in Benguet, when asked about their fathers’ occupation, would usually reply, “Farmer lang (only),” Gov. Nestor Fongwan says.

“[We look forward to that day] when other people must look up to farmers because farming is a dignified occupation,” he says.

Both Alcala and Fongwan have pinned their hopes on what is billed as a modern trading center in La Trinidad, which, they say, will help create farmer-entrepreneurs. The P400-million center is expected to give farmers the chance to add value to their crops through semi-processing and processing facilities.

When more farmers are earning profitably also as entrepreneurs, more young people will finally take the path of agriculture because this is “also a question of economics,” Alcala says.

To improve the lot of farmers, the agriculture secretary has pledged farming support systems, the most immediate of which is the modern trading center. The processing facility will also have a warehouse and cold storage, bigger parking spaces and commercial area (cafeteria, banks, lounge area for farmers and dormitory).

Apart from building farm-to-market roads, Alcala says existing roads must be checked so they won’t deteriorate because of poor drainage.

Bright prospects

He says the prospects are bright in agriculture in the short term because other countries need the Philippines to feed their people.

He cites Japan, which, in the aftermath of a killer earthquake and tsunami in March, has to import its food because of radiation-contaminated farm products as a result of leaks from its nuclear plants.

South Korea, whose poultry had been affected by the bird flu virus, may also have to import from the Philippines.

The DA’s sub-agencies have been offering scholarships and grants to poor but deserving students to encourage young people to pursue agriculture or agriculture-related careers, Alcala says.