Double Harvests

Harvest and Graduation Day of Farmers

NINETY (90) members of Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Organizations (ARBOs) graduated in Farmers’ Field School under the Agri-Enterprise Development component of Agrarian Reform Community Project 2 (ARCP2).

The partnership of DAR and East West Seed Philippines shows that the land awarded to ARBs is not just a place to grow crops, it can also be a venue to learn high-value vegetable production thus called Farmers’ Field School.

ARBOs: Calateo Farmers Association (CAFA), Sipaya Small Farmers Association (SISFA), and Mt. Bintakan Farmers Organization (MAFO) from Juban; Monbon Farmers Association (MONFA) and Bigkis Farmers from Irosin; and A. Bonifacio Farmers Irrigators Association (ABFIA), G. Del Pilar Farmers Association (GPIFA), and Lahong Pawa Farmers Irrigators Association (LAPAFARA) from Bulan experience double harvest. First is the skills and knowledge gained after the six months of intensive training on a year-round vegetable production using organic fertilizers and pesticides; and second is the bountiful harvest of assorted vegetables.

High-Value Vegetables for Sale

DAR Sorsogon Employees purchasing the harvest of the graduates.

“We don’t give our farmers with just fish, we want them to learn how to fish. Thus, after the distribution of land, we tied-up with skills providing company to teach our ARBs how to make the land productive,” Leonito M. Gaveria, OIC Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer II said.

The graduation day and harvest festival in the three municipalities of Sorsogon which includes Juban, Irosin, and Bulan was successful. In Bulan, Mayor Marnellie Ballesteros Robles joined the harvest festival at Barangay A. Bonifacio. 

“This is the first time I experience to harvest vegetables from a farm. This project is truly impressive. I will make a law supporting the marketing of organic vegetables here in Bulan,” Mayor Robles said during the graduation ceremony. 

Farmers have proven that patience and perseverance do help them increase their income.

Booths for Organic Vegetables prepared by ARBOs in A. Bonifacio, Bulan, Sorsogon