In Agusan del Sur tree farms, a wait is worth millions

MILLIONAIRE IN WAITING Falcata farmer Joseph Cajeras poses with his 4-year-old trees in a showcase of hard work that could turn him into a millionaire in the next three years. —PHOTO COURTESY OF USAD

PROSPERIDAD, Agusan del Sur — If patience is a virtue, tree farmers in upland villages of this timber-rich province better have an abundant supply of it. That’s if they want to be millionaires.

Taught a better way of planting falcata trees, the farmers had found their land to be not only a source of increased income, but also hope of earning millions.

Among them was Madrid Havana, 48.

Havana, who tends 1 hectare of falcata trees in the upland village of Halapitan in La Paz town, was among 1,363 farmers who grow the tree species since 2014 under the provincial government’s program, Upland Sustainable Agri-forestry Development (Usad).

“I hope our lives will be better when harvest time comes,” Havana said.

Maturity

His falcata trees could be sold for a million pesos or more, especially when mature—seven to nine years—which meant he would have to wait from 2021 to 2023.

Falcata was the tree of choice for Usad because it has a shorter maturity period than other trees and has a pulp texture favored by wood processors.

It was also good for lumber as it has a straighter trunk than other trees.

Another farmer, Wilfredo Cadenas, who grows the tree in the village of Sinubong in Veruela town, said he could probably wait for up to 10 years, the age of maturity for falcata bound for export, before harvesting his trees.

The technology that he and other farmers acquired through Usad led to a nearly 100 percent survival rate for falcata.

“Comparing it to what we did before, there is really a big difference now,” Cadenas said.

P2,000 per tree

“I could harvest it in the next three years but I’ll wait when the trees reach 10 years for me to become more than a millionaire,” he said.

Forester Vevencio Banog, Usad falcata coordinator, said the technology taught to farmers included the right planting design and proper tree spacing.

Linda Buquir, Usad chief, said a fully grown falcata can be sold for P2,000 per tree in the local market.

But if a farmer allowed it to grow for nine to 10 years, the trees could reach a volume of 30 cubic meters and fetch P12,000 each.

So if a farmer can harvest at least 500 trees from 1 hectare of land, he can really be a millionaire, Buquir said.

The area devoted now to falcata (Falcataria molucanna) had grown to almost 1 million ha since Usad’s launch in 2014.

Agusan del Sur, which relies heavily on the wood industry, is now the acknowledged main supplier of falcata logs although the two Surigao provinces and Agusan del Norte also grow the tree.

Top producers

Wood processors in the Caraga region turn them into veneer, plywood and paper.

Forester Danny Sarong, of the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office, said falcata farmers in Agusan del Sur can now produce at least 2,000 cubic meters a day, topping production in all other four provinces in Caraga.

Farmers who enrolled for Usad, a project of Gov. Adolph Edward Plaza, had been provided technical support and seedlings.

They were, however, required to sign a contract in which they commit to religiously tend their farms, never pawn their harvest for loans or sell their trees while these were young.

Plaza, in a recent meeting with the farmers, said Usad beneficiaries should also not be swayed by easy money offered by traders who want to buy trees even if these were not ready for harvest.

Buquir said there were instances in the past when farmers sold their young trees for just P100,000 per hectare. —Chris Panganiban