Farmer's Day: A rendezvous of agri-entrepreneurs and advocacy
By Rex M. Rubio
The active men and women farmers in the First District of Cotabato Province gathered from September 27 to September 30, 2023, for an Annual Celebration called Farmer’s Day dubbed “Barangay sa SCC Agri Fair Trade and Exhibits, timely for the 74 th Founding Anniversary of Southern Christian College.
Analyn V. Derequito, Program Head of the Sustainable Ecological Agriculture and Food Security (SEAFS) Programme of the Peace and Tri-people Dialogue Project of Southern Christian College (SCC), and who led the event, explained that Farmer’s Day is part of its advocacy to highlight the essential role of farmers in food sufficiency and security.
“This event was organized in collaboration with government agencies and other non-government organizations, where we gave our farmers the venue to highlight their products and innovation in agriculture,” Derequito said.
Derequito added that during the field day, other farmers and agri-entrepreneurs are introduced to various sustainable farming practices that may complement and add to their existing techniques in farming.
Farmer’s impact
Emma N. Calianga, 57 years old and one of the active farmer participants from Aleosan, Cotabato, shared that since joining the group in 2018, the Farmer’s Day event helped her gain new ideas and adopt new technology in farming.
“I am always excited to attend this kind of event. It is a learning experience for me. The techniques challenged me to explore more to maintain my small vegetable farm,” Calianga said in Ilonggo.
Meanwhile, Ivy Joy B. Antiquera, an agripreneur who is also an avid Farmer's Day attendee, said that it is a wonderful experience to be with a group of people who love farming. Ivy created Tagpo Juice, a brand of fruit juices made with raw materials available in her backyard that has become popular among elementary school students in her area.
“Although my college degree is related to agriculture [animal science] I never imagined staying in a far-flung area and living as a typical housewife. My engagement with the SCC agriculture-related program changed my perspective to re-love farming and becomes my way of life,”
Antiquera said, also in Ilonggo.
For Ivy, it was like a 360-degree turn for she never wished to go back to farming again. “When I was young, I vividly recalled that my mother used to tell me that I have to keep up in school because farming will not give me a good future, but this changed when I got exposed again to the SCC group of farmers.”
After a series of training and exposure, Antiquera regains her love for farming. “I was inspired by one of the trainings, where our facilitator shared her fruit juice business which I also explored and tried at home.”
Although exploring a business, like juice making, needs a lot of patience to set a desirable taste for customers, Ivy patiently tried until finally got a good nod from her neighborhood. “Most of my customers are usually grade pupils and they love our fruit juice. I am thankful that even young people appreciate natural juice over commercial ones. This is our way to educate them on the value of drinking healthy juice.”
Mounting annual events and creating a platform for lovers of farming
Derequito believes that running this regular event will provide farmers the opportunity to learn the benefits and essentials of sustainable ecological agriculture.
“Since we launched this event in the year 2000, more farmers from Cotabato province are enjoying and learning the innovation in farming and are able to scale up their local produce through value adding. The firsthand experience of farmers gives them the confidence and motivation to adopt appropriate practices in their respective farms or agri-business.”
The said event becomes a platform also for farmers to exchange ideas and experiences, and how their individual challenges transform into valuable farm assets.
“Through the years, this event connects farmers with local agricultural experts and acquired appropriate guidance from them while some even access support [project] for their own farm,” she reiterated.
Derequito further said that among the farming technologies adopted by farmers are diversified integrated farming systems for upland, lowland, and marshland like the establishment of organic backyard gardening, rice-fish, or rice-duck farming, organic aquaculture production, organic animal and crop production, and even agroforestry project.
The SEAFS Programme is one of the tri-programmes of the Amplifying Peace and Development through Tri-people Partnership in Local and Global Education and Linkages or locally known as the SCC Peace and Tri-people Dialogue Project, a cooperative project of the Bread for the World, Berlin, Germany and Southern Christian College, Midsayap, Cotabato, Philippines.
Today, according to Derequito, six farmers’ associations and 3,382 beneficiaries, composed of 482 farmers as direct beneficiaries and 2,880 household members and other farmers as indirect beneficiaries, benefit regular capacity building, field exposure, and even formal training to become holder of national competency (NC) related to agriculture through Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
The number of farmers continues to increase as the farmers’ associations members continuously push their own campaigns and advocacy on the essentials of sustainable ecological agriculture in their neighborhood.
Photos by Rex M. Rubio and courtesy of SEAF Team