• KEITH BRANDON CARI-AN
The Southeast Asia Regional Initiatives for Community Empowerment (SEARICE) featured six local agriculturists and farmers in Negros Occidental, to celebrate the Philippine Agriculturists’ Month this July.
Let’s meet our featured Negrosanon farmers.
Gina Banowski
Gina Banowski, 57, is a farmer and an agriculturist in the village of Mailum in Bago City.
Gina owes her foreign-sounding last name to her German husband. While he was alive, she started farming part-time. She is a management engineer by training.
When her husband passed away, Gina decided to go all-in on farming. She went one step further, and began growing her crops without chemicals.
Today, Gina leads the Mailum Organic Village Association in Bago City, helping to encourage over 500 farmers to keep up organic agriculture on a combined 700 hectares of land.
Joventina Ong
Joventina Ong has been farming for 22 years since she graduated with a degree in Agriculture.
The 62-year-old agriculturist practices organic farming on a 2.5-hectare of land in Bago City.
She is proud to contribute to the production of organic food for her family and community.
Joventina serves as the vice president of the Tabukol Farmers Association in Bago City.
Nestor Obejero
Nestor Obejero is a leader among fellow farmers.
He is the chairman of the farmers’ organization, Kristianong Mangunguma sa Cabugan Association (KIMASCA), in Kabankalan City.
Nestor, 65, started farming in 1970.
Today, he continues to grow upland rice on two hectares of land.
Judy Cardiente
Judy Cardiente, 42, has been farming since 2008, growing upland rice, corn and peanuts, on close to four hectares of land in Barangay Camingawan, Kabankalan City.
Judy says, “We plant vegetables for our own consumption, and to sell in the market.”
She said they earn P8,000 (USD137) a week just from growing eggplant. “We also grow rice for our own needs, and corn, to feed our animals.”
Butz Buerom
After working as a seafarer for over a decade, 41-year-old Butz Buerom decided to work as a farmer and agriculturist.
Butz says he is proud to have been practicing natural farming since 2015 in his farm Talana Organics.
Aside from farming rice, coffee, cacao, and vegetable in his 2.5 hectares land, he also raises poultry and livestock.
Because of his farming practices, he has been receiving the organic rice certification since 2019, and the certified organic chicken and table eggs in 2023. He was also awarded Best in Organic Free Range Chicken in 2018 and Best Organic Farmer in 2022.
Butz leads the Tabucol Farmers Association of Barangay Bacong in Bago City as its president.
Arnel Calago
Arnel Calago, 42, started farming in 2004 in Kabankalan City. Before becoming a farmer, he worked as a sales representative and community development worker.
Apart from being a farmer, he works as a production staff at the Central Philippines State University.
He is also the former president of the Camingawan-Tagukon Farmers’ Association. He is still active in the association as its financial advisor.
His three-hectare land produces corn, root crops, vegetables, sugarcane, and rice. Arnel also raises native chicken.
“Farming does not only end with planting crops and raising animals but working in harmony with nature for it to be sustainable. Conserving and preserving the ecosystem,” Arnel says.
SEARICE Project
SEARICE is a regional development organization that promotes and implements community-based conservation, development and sustainable use of plant genetic resources (PGRs).
Currently, SEARICE is implementing the “Engendering Access for Smallholder Farmers to Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture for Conservation and Sustainable Use”.
This two-year project is being rolled out in the cities of Kabankalan and Bago.
Through this project, SEARICE seeks to address the challenges that farmers face, especially in accessing seeds and planting materials in order to develop crop varieties that will not only meet their nutritional needs but also suit best the local farming conditions.
Earlier this month, SEARICE reached out to Negros Weekly and invited Professor Allen Del Carmen and yours truly to share our knowledge and experience in journalism and development communication to farmers and academic partners from the cities of Bago and Kabankalan. | NWI
