2015 AGRICULTURE STORY OF THE YEAR

“Beyond the fields”
Cherry Ann T. Lim
Sun Star Cebu


IT IS Saturday. Sienna (not her real name), 14, is chopping sugarcane stalks. She began working with her mother in this sugarcane farm in Barangay Caputatan Norte, Medellin town, Cebu a year ago.

The third year high school student works from 7 to 11 a.m., taking care to avoid getting bitten by rats, snakes and poisonous spiders, and cutting herself with her scythe.

The daily rate at the farm is P80, but only the adults get paid, her mother said.

If the pakyaw system is used, where pay is based on work completed, the worker gets P45 for every 1,000 pieces of sugarcane stalks he can chop in preparation for planting.

Working alone, her mother can chop only 3,000 pieces a day. This helps to explain why farmers who need more income bring their children to the farms to help out.



Farm kids

According to the 2011 Survey on Children by the National Statistics Office, the bulk or 55 percent of children in hazardous labor in the Philippines worked in farms.

Work in sugarcane plantations is one of the worst forms of child labor, along with child domestic work, child prostitution, deep-sea fishing, fireworks production, and mining and quarrying.

To help the children, the non-government organization (NGO) World Vision Development Foundation Inc. is implementing in Cebu the “Pag-Aaral ng Bata para sa Kinabukasan: Livelihoods, Education, Advocacy and Protection to Reduce Child Labor in Sugarcane Areas” (ABK3 Leap) project.

Funded by the US Department of Labor, the project runs from October 2011 to September 2016, said Dorothy Mae Albiento, advocacy and communications specialist of ABK3 Leap, World Vision.

In Cebu, ABK3 will help 2,106 children from 908 households in six barangays, of which 1,559 are engaged in child labor while 547 are at risk of being drawn into it.

To benefit are children in 476 households in barangays Anonang Sur, Cayang and Taytayan in Bogo City; and in 432 households in Caputatan Norte, Caputatan Sur and Dalingding Sur in Medellin.



As young as five

The children ABK3 is assisting are from five to 17 years old. In farms, the five-year-olds usually do the weeding, Albiento said.

“Normally, children work in the farms on weekends and holidays,” Albiento said. “But sometimes, during the peak season, like cultivation, planting and harvest, they study only three days a week. Beginning Thursday, they are no longer in school.”

Agnes Yaun, barangay captain of Caputatan Norte, Medellin’s biggest area for sugarcane, said children under 10 are usually brought to the farms by parents who say they have no one to leave them with at home.

In the farm, they are assigned to line up seedlings on the soil. But even doing just that is hazardous, Yaun said, since mud is sharp once the tractor has been through it.

Older child workers told Sun.Star Cebu that without protective gear, wounds from weeding and chopping sugarcane, and scratches from brushing against the sharp sugarcane leaves were common.

The children also complained of chemical fertilizers that sting and of the intense heat of the sun. One of them said the drinking water supplied to them at work was never enough.



Education

To reduce child labor, World Vision puts the children in school to break the cycle of poverty in their families.

ABK3 Leap helps children enrolled in formal education, non-formal education (Alternative Learning System or ALS) and technical-vocational training. It also provides supplemental learning materials, like books, for schools’ learning resource centers (LRC).

Child beneficiaries get school supplies and school uniforms.

“This is to relieve parents of some of the financial burdens of sending their children to school, thereby encouraging enrollment in school and increasing retention,” Albiento said.

Yet other challenges remain.

“All the six barangays do not have high schools, so children, especially those from the farther sitios of the barangay, have to walk around 30 minutes to one hour to get to the nearest high school in the area,” Albiento said. The farthest is a two-hour walk.

Caputatan Norte is four kilometers from Medellin proper, where the Medellin National High School and Cebu Normal University (CNU) are, Yaun said, explaining the situation in her village. A habal-habal (modified motorcycle) ride would cost students P20 one way.



Vocational

For 15-17-year-olds eligible for TVET (technical-vocational education and training) courses, ABK3 covers part of their tuition or miscellaneous expenses, said Jun Mina, ABK3 Leap monitoring and evaluation associate.

The youths usually train in housekeeping, and food and beverage services with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) and the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole).

“When they pass the Tesda assessment for NC (National Certificate) II, they are even qualified to go abroad,” Albiento said.

So the children have no excuse not to attend the training, Medellin Mayor Ricardo Ramirez III provides a vehicle to pick up the TVET scholars daily, said Emelita Cala, provincial engagement officer of World Vision assigned in Cebu.

Some TVET graduates now work in pension houses in Cebu City and in restaurants in Bogo and Medellin. Farm worker Vanessa (last name withheld) revealed that one of her seven children, a TVET-assisted scholar, now works in Profood International Corp. in Mandaue City, cooking mangoes.



Teacher training

To strengthen education services, ABK3 trains teachers in creative storytelling, sets up LRCs in the barangays, and holds catch-up sessions for struggling learners.

The catch-up sessions are done by the top-performing students who act as “little teachers” to the struggling learners.

Caputatan Norte has seven “little teachers.” Aged 15 to 17, and studying in high school or college, these teenagers are the officers of the Barangay Children’s Association, of which the 502 children in the ABK3 project in the village are members.

Cala said the “little teachers” fan out to the sitios on weekends for the catch-up sessions, teaching children English and math after giving them a lecture on child labor.

One of the “little teachers” is on track to becoming a full-time teacher, as she is now taking up Bachelor of Elementary Education.

To ensure a safe learning environment, ABK3 also builds and repairs classrooms, and water and sanitation facilities. It also trained teachers and principals on raising awareness on child rights and child labor.



Community watch

With family and community support for education vital, ABK3 also organizes and strengthens community structures like Community Watch Groups (CWG) and Barangay Councils for the Protection of Children (BCPC).

Community watch groups composed of volunteer parents and barangay officials conduct quarterly monitoring to help ensure that the ABK3 aims are met.

“If the CWGs see children working, they make home visits to remind parents not to let their children work. Some kids work to provide for school supplies, so we give them school supplies,” Albiento said.

“In Bogo and Medellin, there are 57 CWG volunteers. In the six barangays, the BCPCs are functional. They have plans, which are endorsed to the Barangay Council for funding,” said Jay Renton, monitoring and evaluation officer for ABK3 Leap, World Vision.



Barangay councils

Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) 7 Regional Director Ananias Villacorta said all the 1,066 barangays in Cebu Province have organized their BCPCs. But only 55 BCPCs “have been assessed as ideal,” meaning they have met the requirements for all the indicators of a functional Local Council for the Protection of Children (LCPC).

A fully functioning LCPC is one that holds meetings regularly, supported by minutes of the meetings; has policies and plans on child survival, development, protection and participation, and funding for such programs in the annual budget; and accomplished projects and activities promoting children’s rights and welfare as evidenced by annual reports on these.

The Child and Youth Welfare Code of 1974 mandated the creation of BCPCs to participate in drawing and implementing plans for the promotion of child and youth welfare. Then the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006 required local government units (LGU) to allocate one percent of their Internal Revenue Allotment for the strengthening and implementation of the BCPC’s programs and activities.

Some 737 barangays have allocated the required one percent, while 59 have allocated more than one percent, said Villacorta.



Livelihood

To eliminate the need for child labor, ABK3 helps parents and children aged 15 to 17 with livelihood, providing training and input support (like seeds and tools) for agricultural and non-agricultural ventures.

Parents were trained in natural farming, like backyard gardening and livestock raising. The town now has hog raising and rice retailing projects.

Cala said backyard gardens provide a source of food for families during the lean months when their farm labor is not required and only odd jobs tide them over.

Demonstration gardens that can be used as communal farms were also put up. There are 19 in Medellin, some in idle private lands that World Vision just “borrowed,” Mina said.

For skills training and job referrals, ABK3 hooks up with government agencies like the Dole and Department of Agriculture (DA). The DA has trained the town’s families in the processing of meats like tocino and chorizo.

The idea is to give families alternatives to sugarcane farming because the activities related to this type of farming make children vulnerable to child labor.

“With sugarcane, after cultivation, you wait two to three months for the harvest. This is tiempo muerto (the dead season). June to August, you do weeding only. Harvest season is September to February, while March is land preparation,” Renton said.

“During tiempo muerto, children are at risk of other forms of child labor, like domestic labor in the house. They are also at risk of trafficking,” Mina said.



Savings

So families have the right mindset on finances, ABK3 encourages savings generation through Community Managed Savings and Credit Associations (Comsca).

“By pooling their savings together, Comsca encourages parents to save,” Albiento said.

Comsca has credit and social protection components funded not just by the savings of the members but also by penalties they agree to charge each other for, say, missing Comsca meetings, arriving late or even being talkative at the meetings, Renton said.

Members can take out loans for school expenses, to open a business or to buy a piglet. During emergencies, members can get up to P500 each from the social fund, depending on their agreement. There is a “share-out” or profit sharing at yearend.

The Comsca can be accredited with the Dole for endorsement to access funds.

One unexpected benefit: “Nabawasan ang tong-its (betting on card games was reduced) when they busied themselves with Comsca,” Mina said.

The money was diverted to the Comsca, Cala said. Today, despite some farmers earning just the daily wage of P80, each member contributes P100 every Sunday to the Comsca.

“After typhoon Yolanda, they had nowhere to get money, so they had a ‘share-out.’ After that, everyone wanted to be a member of Comsca” because they realized they could also borrow money through the group, she said.

“Even five-year-olds save money in Comsca,” Albiento said. The youth Comsca has no credit component, but it also has a “share-out.”



Low earnings

On the low earnings of sugar laborers, Jose Mari Miranda, president of the Bogo-Medellin Sugarcane Planters Association, said farmers could earn more under the pakyaw system, with industrious ones able to earn nearly P500 a day, and the less so earning P160-190 a day.

“The rate is P170/ton of sugarcane of output. Based on studies, one worker can have output of 1.75 tons a day, so that’s P170/ton x 1.75 tons = P297.50. Divided by eight hours, that’s P37.18/hour. But actually, they work only five hours. So it’s P297.50/five hours = P59.50/hour. If they work eight hours, they would get P476 (P59.50 x eight hours).

“Cutting takes only 1-1/2 hour. Loading is only one hour. So let’s say they finish everything in 3-1/2 hours, work is finished by 11 a.m. Then mag-inom sila (they go drinking) in the afternoon,” he told Sun.Star Cebu.



Policy support

To sustain the efforts to eliminate child labor, World Vision gives stakeholders capacity and policy support to address the issues of child labor and poverty in sugarcane.

Renton said World Vision increases families’ access to social protection first by informing them of the government programs available such as at the Philippine Health Insurance Corp., the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and Dole.

Awareness raising on child labor in sugarcane is also done through orientations and community assemblies.

Then community structures like the LCPCs at the municipal and barangay levels, and LGUs are strengthened with the view to creating ordinances on child labor, children’s codes, and resolutions that prohibit hazardous child labor in sugarcane farms and allocating funds for programs for children’s welfare.

In March, World Vision held an orientation for Medellin’s Municipal Council for the Protection of Children, and a child labor policy “writeshop” and child monitoring system workshop. Medellin has since passed an ordinance outlawing child labor. It is now drafting its Children’s Code.



First

Barangay Caputatan Norte was ahead of the town, though, in passing an ordinance to prohibit child labor, having done so in 2014.

At the helm was Yaun, whom the DILG named the most outstanding barangay captain of Central Visayas towns in 2013.

She credits her win in part to her barangay’s partnerships with NGOs for livelihood projects, and with CNU for outreach projects to help out-of-school youths.

Yaun also showed Sun.Star Cebu the Barangay Household Information System that contains information on the number of people in each sitio, the jobs they have, the number of children they have and their children’s jobs.

She said the number of working children in the village had dropped to 20 percent from 80-90 percent in 2007.

Asked how she would replace the lost income of the children withdrawn from child labor, she said that through the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, the DSWD had given the barangay lessons in cooking, sewing and soap making.

Since adults work in the farms only in the mornings, they now spend their afternoons making macramé belts and bags, rugs, peanuts, pastillas, T-shirts, jogging pants, sling bags, backpacks and a cleaning liquid they can sell in the town.



Denial

The scale of child labor in sugarcane farms remains unclear because in the informal sector, usually only the adults are put in the payroll.

There may also be some denial by landowners that child labor exists at that scale.

The Bogo-Medellin Sugarcane Planters Association has 400-450 members (landowners) from Bogo, Medellin and other parts of Cebu’s sugar milling district like Tabogon, San Remigio, Daanbantayan and Tuburan. Most have farm sizes of one to 20 hectares, said Miranda.

Of child labor in these areas, he said: “Wa man kaayo na sa amo. (We don’t have much of that.) Mostly, we have contract workers. I don’t accept children. If the parents plant, we ask them to leave their children outside because the parents will be distracted from their work.”

He added: “The children today don’t want to be exposed to the sun. If there are child workers, maybe those are in plots that are one to two hectares, those that are family affairs.”

But barangay captain Yaun said that, at least in her barangay, all the sugar farmers worked in haciendas and didn’t own farms, and some even squatted or lived in the haciendas where they worked.

Medellin Mayor Ramirez was more realistic about child workers in sugarcane in his town: “I doubt if they reach 200.”

He said the children he had seen worked on Saturdays, or during the summer and holidays only, and that they did just light tasks, like weeding.

“Para nako, maka-ayo man sad na. Sa bukid, disiplinado man. Their free time is devoted to helping the family. In the barangays with no farms, kargado naa didto ang mga bugoy.” (I think that’s good for the children also. In the mountain barangays, the children are more disciplined. In the villages with no farms, that’s where the misfits are.)



Results

Cala said that of the ABK3-assisted working children in Bogo City, only 15 percent remain engaged in hazardous labor today. In Medellin, the rate is 39 percent. “The project target is 15 percent, so in Bogo, we will just try to maintain that,” she said.

On the bigger reduction of child labor in Bogo, she said, “There are zero children now in Anonang Sur because the owner of the farm is the Barangay Captain, George Tabaco.”

“By the end of the project, ABK3 Leap (which covers 11 provinces) will directly support 54,000 children at risk of or working in sugarcane, and the project’s livelihood, capacity building and policy work will reduce additional children working,” said Albiento.

When World Vision packs up, the local government will have to pick up the slack.

Addressing attendees of the World Vision-sponsored workshop for municipal officials in March, it seems Mayor Ramirez was already priming them for the task: “Children should not be out in the fields, especially during school days. They should be in school, so they can have a good education, so they can get gainful employment. An educated man can go a long way.”

2015 TOBACCO STORY OF THE YEAR

“Potential of tobacco industry In Central Luzon”
Ian Ocampo Flora
Sun.Star Pampanga



CITY OF SAN FERNANDO People living in the central plains are often surprised to find out that there was a time when tobacco grew abundantly in the vast farmlands of the region, specifically Nueva Ecija and Pampanga.

It was so abundant in fact that a whole industry sprung from its cultivation changing the fortunes of families, businessmen and communities who cashed in on the trade of its by-products and service industries needed to propel it.

Today, few people remember the time when large families engaged in small-town production of cigarettes wrapped in decorative home-made paper packages.

Now, the Department of Agriculture (DA) here sees tobacco production as possible alternative crop for corn.

The agency however is optimistic that it will not compete with palay production in Central Luzon.

"We have vast lands used for corn production. These lands have the same properties needed to cultivate tobacco," said DA Regional Director Andrew Villacorta, adding that there is around 30,000 hectares exclusively for corn production in Central Luzon that could be used for tobacco.

The general character of the soil used for corn production in Central Luzon is of sandy loam, very ideal for tobacco production.

The optimism of the DA on the economic benefits of tobacco production is not without basis. In 2006 to 2008 alone, the annual average revenue of P31.8-billion was raked in for the government, according to the National Tabacco Administration (NTA).

The DA also sees tobacco production as a way to open up once productive idle lands rendered idle from the devastation of the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991. There are now vast hectares idle lahar lands in Pampanga, Tarlac and Zambales.

The history of tobacco production is intrinsically intertwined with the history of Central Luzon.

A cash-strapped Spanish colonial government introduced tobacco into the islands. In 1782 (some say 1781) Governor General Jose Basco y Vargas led the state monopoly on tobacco with the encouragement of King Carlos III of Spain who found the prospect of a "Philippine colony financially self-sufficient" more promising than a growing colony that is financially dependent on the Spanish crown.

The vast lands of Luzon became the first areas for the production and processing of tobacco with Abra, La Union, Ilocos, Cagayan Valley and Nueva Ecija (still part of Pampanga at the time) taking the lead.

The monopoly was so profitable that by 1850 the government's earnings were pegged at USD500,000 (P21.275 million) which is enormous even by today's standards. The time also ushered the first factory system in the country where people would gather in one place and process and wrap cigars for domestic and international consumption.

However, abuses on the monopoly, along with the harsh provisions and rampant corruption, led to its abolition almost 100 years later in 1882.



Patriotism in a puff

With the abolition of the monopoly, companies and private individuals moved in to cash in on the popularity of tobacco as a commodity. Pampanga, a major trading center even in the Spanish times, benefited greatly when the restrictions were lifted. Latter, the American regime made a shift into the production of cigarettes or cigarillos.

So profitable was the industry that businessmen put up companies in the provinces. In Pampanga entrepreneurs brought in processes tobacco leaves and had them wrapped by families in backyard workshops.

The tobacco processing industry spread far that even fishing towns like Guagua and Betis (later annexed to Guagua) produced packed cigarettes. Evidence of this are the old cigarette package wrappers that are now sought after antique collections. From these wrappers, one could have an idea that almost every town in Pampanga had in one time or another engaged in cigarette production.

Local historian Alex Castro in his blog "Views From the Pampang" best described the industry,: "Local entrepreneurs probably bought processed cigar leaves and engaged backyard workers to roll and wrap cigarettes in these 2-color, lithographed packages carrying assorted visual themes, often irrelevant to the product, ranging from the patriotic (pictures of heroes, Katipunan) to the mythical and romantic."

Local businessmen did not only get rich, it also sparked a whole local industry that showed the first signs "patriotic advertising" through the cigarette wrappers.

"A unique Betis wrapper, "La Reina Malaya" (The Malayan Queen), on the other hand, contains a nationalist verse that calls upon Filipinos to patronize Philippine-made products and not those made by our colonizershighly seditious stuff on print," Castro, who has his own collection of antique cigarette wrappers, said.

"Today, these cigarette wrappers are being collected not just for their artistic merit, but also for their value as cultural ephemera, defining our taste for leisure and recreation under our colonizers," Castro added.



Reviving tobacco industry in Central Luzon

Today, the NTA lists 23 provinces still growing tobacco. Nueva Ecija, which once grew the crop abundantly, has ceased to grow in a large scale, except for a few barangays near Tarlac province. Only farmers in Tarlac province still grow the crop in Central Luzon.

DA Regional Director Villacorta sees the possibility of growing tobacco again in various provinces in Central Luzon through contract growing.

Central Luzon, for a fact, has a well established farming sector with cooperatives ready to take in such projects. The region also has a well established irrigation system, farm to market roads and industries that can take in the requirement for by-product services.

The DA said that the crop may open up once productive farmlands that have been buried in lahar by the Mt. Pinatubo eruptions. The area that may be used is some 53, 000 hectares in Pampanga, Tarlac and Zambales. Burley tobacco is seen as a potential variety that could be grown abundantly in the said areas.

Pampanga is also seen as a potential area for the production of tobacco by-products. The DA sees the establishment of tobacco dust and pulp processing plant to benefit agriculture sector here.

Tobacco dust, according to the NTA, is an effective mollusscicide and can be used in eliminating snails and enhances the growth of fish nutrients in ponds. According to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), Central Luzon produced 50 percent of the total tilapia production in the Philippines in the last five years.

In 2003, Pampanga produced 65,000 metric tons of tilapia, earning for it the title "tilapia capital of the Philippines". The area alone projects a positive venue to promote the use of tobacco dust in aqua-culture in the region. Pampanga has been the number one producer of Tilapia in the country in recent years.

Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, and Bulacan also have well established markets and industries in the production of bags from pulp and local materials. Introducing tobacco pulp here, according to the DA, will save time and resources in marketing the product into various markets.

And while others tend to look at the tobacco sector as a dying industry, agriculture officials here see it as a very promising industry that can spark further growth and development to the strong agriculture and business sector of the region.

2015 BEST AGRICULTURE TV PROGRAM OR SEGMENT

“Cateel, Davao Oriental Episode”
Karren Verona, Producer
ABS-CBN Davao



VO: SINONG MAG-AAKALA NA ANG GANITO KAGANDANG LUGAR AY DATING SINALANTA AT HALOS LINAMON NG ISANG BAGYO. NOONG 2012, NANG TUMAMA SA PILIPINAS ANG ISA SA MGA KINIKILALANG PINAKAMALAKAS NA TROPICAL CYCLONE NA TUMAMA SA KATIMUGAN NG MINDANAO. ITO ANG TYPHOON BOPHA O MAS KILALA DITO SA ATING BANSA BILANG BAGYONG PABLO.
VO: WHO WOULD’VE THOUGHT THAT THIS WONDERFUL PLACE WAS PREVIOUSLY DEVASTATED AND ENGULFED BY A SUPER TYPHOON. IN 2012, THE PHILIPPINES WAS HIT BY ONE OF THE STRONGEST TROPICAL CYCLONES THAT EASTERN MINDANAO HAVE EVER SEEN. THIS IS TYPHOON BOPHA OR MOST COMMONLY KNOWN HERE AS TYPHOON PABLO.
VO: WINASAK NG BAGYONG ITO ANG MILYON-MILYONG KABAHAYAN AT MGA KABUHAYAN. TINANGAY NITO ANG LIBO-LIBONG BUHAY AT MGA KINABUKASAN NG MAGPAPAMILYANG PINAGHIWAHIWALAY.
VO: IT DESTROYED MILLIONS OF HOUSEHOLDS AND LIVELIHOOD. IT CLAIMED THOUSANDS OF LIVES AND THE FUTURE OF THE SEVERAL SEPARATED FAMILIES.
VO: DAHIL DITO NAGKAISA ANG LAHAT NA MAIBANGON ANG MGA NASALANTANG BAYAN. AT MAPALAD DING NAKATANGGAP NG TULONG ANG ISA SA MGA MUNISIPALIDAD NA PINAKANAAPEKTUHAN AT NAPINSALA NG BAGYONG PABLO, ANG CATEEL, DAVAO ORIENTAL.
VO: BECAUSE OF THIS, PEOPLE HAVE COME HAND IN HAND FOR THE RECOVERY OF THE DEVASTATED TOWNS. AND LUCKILY ENOUGH, ONE TOWN THAT HAVE BEEN WORSTLY HIT BY TYPHOON PABLO HAVE RECEIVED EXTENSIVE HELP AND THAT IS THE TOWN OF CATEEL IN DAVAO ORIENTAL.
VO: NAPAPAGITNAAN ITO NG MUNISIPALIDAD NG BOSTON SA HILAGA, KARAGATANG PASIPIKO SA SILANGAN, MUNISIPALIDAD NG BAGANGA SA TIMOG, AT MUNISIPALIDAD NAMAN NG COMPOSTELA SA KANLURAN NITO.
VO: IT IS SITUATED BETWEEN THE MUNICIPALITY OF BOSTON IN THE NORTH, PACIFIC OCEAN IN THE EAST, MUNICIPALITY OF BAGANGA IN THE SOUTH AND MUNICIPALITY OF COMPOSTELA IN THE WEST.
VO: AT PARA SA MGA KA-AGRI NATING BIYAHERO, MULA SA KABISERA NG BANSA, MARARATING ANG MUNISPILIDAD NG CATEEL SA PAMAMAGITAN NG PAGSAKAY NG EROPLANO MULA MAYNILA PAPUNTA SA PALIPARAN NG DAVAO CITY. MULA SA DAVAO, MAAARING SUMAKAY NG PRIBADONG SASAKYAN O PAMPUBLIKONG BUS NA MAAARING DUMAAN SA MATI CITY. TINATAYANG AABOT SA ANIM HANGGANG SIYAM NA ORAS ANG BIYAHE KAYA SIGURADUHING SAPAT ANG BAON NIYO NA TUBIG UPANG MA-ENJOY NINYO ANG ROAD TRIP.
VO: AND FOR OUR KA-AGRING TRAVELERS, FROM THE CAPITAL OF THE COUNTRY, YOU CAN GO TO THE TOWN OF CATEEL THROUGH AN AIRPLANE RIDE FROM MANILA TO DAVAO CITY. FROM THERE, YOU CAN RIDE A PRIVATE VEHICLE OR PUBLIC UTILITY BUS THAT WILL PASS THROUGH MATI CITY. THE ROAD TRIP USUALLY TAKES SIX TO NINE HOURS, THAT’S WHY MAKE SURE TO BRING WITH YOU ENOUGH WATER FOR YOU TO ENJOY THE ROAD TRIP.
VO: PERO DI BALE MGA, KA-AGRI! SIGURADONG SULIT NA SULIT RIN NAMAN ANG BIYAHE DAHIL PAGDATING SA CATEEL, HETO ANG BABATI SA INYO! MGA MAGAGANDANG TANAWIN, MGA MAMAMAYANG MAGIGILIW SA PANAUHIN, AT KAY SASARAP NA PAGKAIN!.
VO: DON’T YOU WORRY, KA-AGRI! THE LONG ROAD TRIP IS ALL WORTH IT BECAUSE WHEN YOU ARRIVE IN CATEEL, THIS WILL WELCOME YOU! MAGNIFICENT VIEWS, HEARTWARMING FOLKS TO THEIR VISITORS, AND DELICIOUS FOOD AND DELICACIES!.
VO: AT NGAYONG UMAGA, DI LANG NILA TAYO BUBUSUGIN SA MGA IBINIBIDA NA KAYAMANAN NG CATEEL, BUBUSUGIN RIN TAYO NG MGA IBABAHAGI NILANG SAMU’T-SARING KWENTO NG PAGBANGON, PAG-ASA, AT PAGBABAGONG BUHAY! TARA’T LIBUTIN NATIN ANG KABUOAN NG CATEEL UPANG TUKLASIN ANG IBA PANG KABIDA-BIDANG PRODUKTO, YAMAN AT KWENTO SA LARANGAN NG PAG-AAGRIKULTURA DITO!.
VO: AND THIS MORNING, THEY WILL NOT JUST MAKE US FULL AND AMAZED OF THE TREASURES OF CATEEL, THEY WILL ALSO MAKE US JAM-PACKED OF STORIES OF RECOVERY, HOPE, AND NEW LIFE. LET’S GO ENJOY THE WONDERS OF CATEEL TO DISCOVER OTHER PRECIOUS PRODUCTS, RICHES AND STORIES IN THE FIELD OF AGRICULTURE IN CATEEL.


WELCOME SPIELS

ON CAM RUBEN[1]: MASAGANANG UMAGA MGA KA-AGRING KAPAMILYANG PINOY! ATING KUMUSTAHIN ANG BAYAN NG CATEEL, DAVAO ORIENTAL. RUBEN GONZAGA PO! AGRI TAYO DITO!
ON CAM RUBEN: A BOUNTIFUL MORNING TO ALL OUR KA-AGRING KAPAMILYANG PINOY. WE WILL DISCOVER THE TOWN OF CATEEL, DAVAO ORIENTAL. I AM RUBEN GONZAGA. AGRI TAYO DITO!


HYPE SEGMENTS

VO: MGA KA-AGRI! SAMU’T-SARING GANDA AT YAMAN NG CATEEL ANG ATING PAGSASALUHAN.
VO: KA-AGRI! WE WILL BE ENJOYING AND SHARING THE BLISS, BEAUTY AND RICHNESS OF CATEEL.
VO: MULA SA MGA NAKAKA-AGRING KAALAMAN SA PAGTATANIM, KWENTO NG ATING AGRIBIDANG MAY KAKAIBANG PAGLALAKBAY TUNGO SA TAGUMPAY. AT PATI NA MGA PRODUKTONG MAPAGKUKUNAN NG KITA. AALAMI NATIN ANG LAHAT NG YAN NGAYONG UMAGA. AT UUMPISAHAN NATIN YAN DITO SA ITANIM NA YAN!
VO: FROM AMAZING AGRI-KNOWLEDGE IN PLANTING, WE WILL VENTURE TO THE UNIQUE JOURNEY TO SUCCESS OF OUR AGRIBIDA, AND PRODUCTS THAT CAN BE SURELY SOURCE OF INCOME. WE WILL DISCOVER THEM ALL THIS MORNING. AND WE WILL START THAT HERE IN ITANIM NA YAN!


ITANIM NA ‘YAN! SEGMENT – SILI

VO: PARAISO MAN ANG NGAYO’Y MAITUTURING DAHIL SA GANDA AT YAMANG NAKAPALIGID. DATI AY LAMAN NG BALITA ANG KAPINSALAAN NA LUMAMON SA MUNISIPALIDAD NG CATEEL. BUKOD SA PAGKAWASAK NG MGA KABAHAYAN AY TINANGAY RIN NG SUPER TYPHOON NA ITO ANG ISA SA MGA PINAKAIMPORTANTENG BAHAGI NG IKINAKABUHAY NG MUNISIPALIDAD, ANG PAG-AAGRIKULTURA NA KABUHAYAN NG MGA KA-AGRI NATING CATEELEÑO.
VO: CATEEL MAY BE HAILED AS A PARADISE BECAUSE OF ITS BEAUTY AND GRANDEUR THAT SURROUNDS IT. BEFORE, IT BECAME A HIT IN THE NEWS BECAUSE OF THE DISASTER THAT DESTROYED THE TOWN OF CATEEL. ASIDE FROM THE DESTRUCTION OF HOMES, THE SUPER TYPHOON TOOK AWAY THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE LIVELIHOOD OF CATEELEÑOS, THE AGRICULTURE.
VO: ANG DATING MATATAAS AT MAYAYABONG NA PUNO NG NIYOG AT IBA PANG FRUIT TREES AY PINALUHOD AT KINALBO NG BAGYO. PATI ANG MGA MATATAYOG NA PUNO NG FALCATA NA DATI AY ISA SA MGA PUNONG NAMAMAYANI SA MUNISIPALIDAD, NGAYON AY NABURA NA NG TYPHOON PABLO.
VO: THE TALL AND GRAND COCONUT TRESS AND OTHER FRUIT TREES WERE BROUGHT DOWN BY THE SUPER TYPHOON. ALSO, THE FAMOUS, STURDY FALCATA TREES IN CATEEL WERE ALSO BROUGHT DOWN BY TYPHOON PABLO.
VO: KAYA NAMAN PARA SA NGAYON LANG MULING MAKAKABISITA, TUNAY NGANG NAKAKAPANIPAGO ANG MAKIKITANG GANDA AT SAGANA NG PAG-AAGRIKULTURA DITO SA CATEEL. AT AYON SA ILANG MAGSASAKANG CATEELEÑO, ISANG PANANIM ANG NAKAKAPAGBIGAY SA KANILA NG BAGONG PAG-ASA. YAN AY ANG PAMPALASA NA SILI!
VO: BUT FOR THOSE WHO HAVE JUST CAME BACK TO VISIT, YOU WILL BE AMAZED BY THE NATURAL BEAUTY AND BOUNTIFUL AGRICULTURE OF CATEEL. AND ACCORDING TO SOME CATEELEÑO FARMERS, ONE PLANT HAS GIVEN THEM NEW HOPE, AND THAT IS THE CHILI PLANT.
VO: AT DAHIL KITANG-KITA ANG TAGUMPAY NA DULOT NITONG TANIM NA PAMPALASA, ABA’Y DI NA TAYO MAGPAPALIGOY-LIGOY PA. ATIN NANG ALAMIN KUNG PAANO ITINATANIM ITONG SILI. TUTURUAN TAYO NG PRESIDENT NG ASOSASIYON NG CHILI GROWERS DITO SA BARANGAY MAINIT SA CATEEL, SI KUYA LARRY BALMORI.
VO: AND BECAUSE THE CLEAR SUCCESS THAT THIS SPICE GIVES, LET’S GO NOW LEARN HOW TO PLANT THIS CHILI PLANT. WE WILL BE TAUGHT BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION OF CHILI GROWERS HERE IN CATEEL, KUYA LARRY BALMORI.


ON CAM LARRY[2]: ANG PANGALAN KANAMIN ASOSASYON, CATEEL DUMANG GARDEN WORKERS ASSOCIATION. ANG AMONG GIPILI NGA TANOM ANG SILI KAY GUMIKAN DUGAY MAMATAY. ABTAN UG DUHA KA TUIG O TULO, TAPOS SIGE KAMI HARVEST, PIRMI KAMI MAKA-KWARTA, MAKATABANG SA MGA KINAHANGLANON, ILABI NA SA AKONG KAUBANG FARMERS.
ON CAM LARRY: THE NAME OF OUR ASSOCIATION IS CATEEL DUMANG GARDEN WORKERS SSOCIATION. WE HAVE CHOSEN TO GROW CHILI PLANT BECAUSE OF ITS EXTENDED LIFE SPAN THAT USUALLY LASTS FROM TWO TO THREE YEARS. WE JUST HARVEST AND ALWAYS EARN THAT CAN HELP SUSTAIN OUR BASIC NEEDS, ESPECIALLY TO MY FELLOW FARMERS.
VO: OO NGA NAMAN. MABILIS ANG PAGTUBO AT DI LANG ONE TIME ANG PAG-ANI NG SILI. KAYA’T NAPAKAINAM ITONG ITANIM KAPAG PAGBANGON ANG NAIS MANGYARI AT KUNG KITA AY GUSTING MAPARAMI.
VO: THAT’S TRUE. CHILI PLANT GROWS FAST AND YOU CAN HAVEST FROM IT MANY TIMES. THAT’S WHY GROWING CHILI PLANT IS SO PRACTICAL IF YOU’RE TARGETING RECOVERY FROM DISASTERS AND DEFINITELY INCREASE YOUR INCOME.
VO: AYON KAY KUYA LARRY, MADALI LANG MAGPARAMI NG SILI. ANG MGA KAKAILANGANIN LAMANG AY SEEDLING TRAY, PANGBUNGKAL NG LUPA, SANDY LOAM SOIL AT BUTO NG SILI.
VO: ACCORDING TO KUYA LARRY, GROWING CHILI PLANT IS SO EASY. WE WILL NEED A SEEDLING TRAY, BOLO, SANDY LOAM SOIL AND CHILI SEEDS.


ON CAM RUBEN: EH KUYA LARRY, ANO PO ANG UNA NIYONG GINAGAWA SA PAGTATANIM NG SILI?
ON CAM RUBEN: KUYA LARRY, WHAT IS THE FIRST THING THAT WE SHOULD DO IN PLANTING CHILI PLANT?
ON CAM LARRY: ANG UNA AY MAGHANDA NG SEEDLING. BAWAT BUTAS AY LALAGYAN NATIN NG ISANG PIRASO NG BUTO. ILAGAY NATIN. TAKPAN.
ON CAM LARRY: THE FIRST THING THAT WE SHOULD DO IS TO PREPARE THE SEEDLING. WE WILL PUT ONE CHILI SEED IN EACH HOLE IN THE SEEDLING TRAY AND COVER IT.
VO: PAGKATAPOS ILAGAY ITO SA LUGAR KUNG SAAN MAY SAPAT NA LIWANAG UPANG MADALI TUMUBO ANG MGA SILI. PAGKATAPOS NG LABINLIMANG ARAW, PWEDE NANG ILIPAT-TANIM ANG MGA SEEDLINGS. SA PAGLILIPAT-TANIM, GUMAWA LAMANG NG BUTAS NA MAY KATAMTAMANG LALIM. YUNG SAPAT LAMANG NA IBAON ANG SEEDLING ANG ATING SILI.
VO: AFTER THAT, PUT THE SEEDLING TRAY IN A PLACE WHERE IT WILL BE EXPOSED TO ENOUGH SUNLIGHT FOR IT TO GROW FAST. AFTER FIFTEEN DAYS, WE CAN ALREADY TRANSFER THE SEEDLINGS FROM THE SEEDLING TRAY. IN TRANSFERRING THE SEEDLINGS, MAKE A HOLE THAT HAS JUST RIGHT DEPTH, WHERE YOU CAN JUST BURY THE CHILI PLANT SEEDLING.
VO: KUNG MARAMIHAN NAMAN ANG PAGTATANIM NA INYONG GAGAWIN, SIGURADUHIN ISANG METRO ANG PAGITAN NG MGA SEEDLING UPANG MAY SAPAT NA ESPASYO ANG BAWAT ISA HABANG TUMTUBO ITO. AT PAGKATAPOS NG ILANG BUWAN, PWEDE NG MAKAPAG-HARVEST NG MGA SILI KAGAYA NITO.
VO: IF YOU’RE PLANNING TO PLANT MANY SEEDLINGS IN ONE AREA, MAKE SURE THAT THERE IS A METER DISTANCE BETWEEN SEEDLINGS FOR THEM TO HAVE ENOUGH SPACE WHILE GROWING. AND AFTER A FEW MONTHS, YOU CAN ALREADY HARVEST CHILIS LIKE THIS.
VO: ANG DAMI OH! AT ETO NGA ANG NAGING SEKRETO NG MGA KA-AGRI NATING CATEELEÑOS TULAD NI KUYA LARRY. GINAGAWA NILANG HOT CHILI SAUCE O POWDER ANG MGA SILING ITO KAYA NAMAN NAGING MAS MABILIS AT MADALI ANG KANILANG PAGBANGON AT PAGKAMIT NG TAGUMPAY SA KANILANG BAGONG BUHAY KAYA NAMAN ETONG MULI ANG MGA KAILANGAN AT PROSESO SA PAGTATANIM NETO, MGA KA-AGRI.
VO: OH, THERE’S A LOT OF CHILIS! THIS IS THE SECRET OF OUR KA-AGRING CATEELEÑOS LIKE KUYA LARRY. THEY MAKE THESE INTO HOT CHILI SAUCE OR POWDER THAT’S WHY THEIR RECOVERY FROM THE DEVASTATION AND IN ACHIEVING UNPRECEDENTED SUCCESS IN THEIR NEW LIFE HAS BECOME FAST AND EASY. AGAIN, HERE ARE THE MATERIALS AND THE PROCESS IN PLANTING THIS.
VO: AALALAHANIN ANG NATUTUNANG PARAAN AT HUWAG KALILIMUTAN DAHIL BUKOD SA NAIHAHATID NITONG DAGDAG SARAP AT SIPA SA PANLASA, ABA’Y MAAARI RIN ITONG IBENTA UPANG KUMITA.
VO: REMEMBER AND NEVER FORGET THIS BECAUSE ASIDE FROM THE ADDITIONAL TASTE AND KICK OF FLAVOR THAT CHILI BRINGS, IT COULD ALSO BE SOLD FOR US TO GAIN INCOME.
ON CAM RUBEN: DI LANG ASTIG NA PAMPAGANA, PERO PARA SA ATING MGA KA-AGRING CATEELEÑOS, ITO’Y NAGBIBIGAY NG BAGONG PAG-ASA. SILING LABUYO…


ON CAM RUBEN: IT’S NOT JUST A COOL FOOD SPICE, BUT FOR OUR KA-AGRING CATEELEÑOS, THIS BROUGHT THEM NEW HOPE. SILING LABUYO…


ON CAM CROWD: ITANIM NA YAN!
HYPE NEXT SEGMENT

VO: SUSUNOD!
VO: UP NEXT!
ON CAM RUBEN: PUMAPASOK SA MATA, PUMAPASOK SA ILONG, NARARAMDAMAN KO KAHIT NAKA-MASK AKO.
ON CAM RUBEN: IT ENTERS MY EYES AND NOSE. AND I CAN FEEL AND SMELL IT EVEN IF I AM WEARING MASK.
VO: SA PAGBABALIK YAN NG AGRI TAYO DITO!
VO: WHEN AGRI TAYO DITO RETURNS!
END OF BODY 1

BODY 2 (TRT – 5:23)

SARAP KITA SEGMENT – DUMANG

VO: AT SA PAGPAPATULOY NG ATING PAGLALAKBAY SA BAYAN NG CATEEL, SAMAHAN NIYO AKONG TUKLASIN ANG IBA’T-IBANG PRODUKTO NA NAGSISILBING PANGKABUHAYAN NG ATING MGA KA-AGRI!
VO: AS WE CONTINUE OUR JOURNEY IN THE TOWN OF CATEEL, JOIN ME AS I DISCOVER THE VARIETY OF PRODUCTS THAT SERVES AS THE LIVELIHOOD OF OUR KA-AGRING CATEELEÑOS!
VO: AT ISA NGA SA MGA PROGRAMA NG GOBYERNO PARA SA MGA CATEELEÑOS AY ANG OPLAN PABLO NEGOSYO CART NA TUMUTULONG SA MGA CATEELEÑOS NA MAKAAHON MULA SA NANGYARING BAGYO. AT ISA SA MGA PRODUKTO NA KANILANG BINEBENTA GAMIT ANG NEGOSYO CART AY ANG BANANA CHIPS NA MAY IBA’T-IBANG FLAVOR NA HINDI LANG MASARAP AT MASUSTANSYA DAHIL ANG KITA ANG SIGURADO PA.
VO: ONE PROGRAM BY THE GOVERNMENT FOR THE CATEELEÑOS IS THE OPLAN PABLO NEGOSYO CART THAT HELPS THEM RECOVER FROM THE DEVASTATION OF THE TYPHOON. ONE PRODUCT THAT THEY SELL USING THE NEGOSYO CART IS THE BANANA CHIPS THAT HAS DIFFERENT FLAVORS, WHICH ARE NOT JUST AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS AND HEALTHY, BUT ALSO ARE SOURCES OF INCOME.
VO: HINDI LAMANG YAN DAHIL SIKAT RIN DITO ANG MASARAP NA…
VO: BANANA CHIPS IS NOT THE ONLY FAMOUS DELICACY HERE, BUT ALSO THE DELICIOUS…
ON CAM RUBEN: GUSTO KONG TIKMAN KASO PICTURE SIYA. TINATAWAG NA AKO!
ON CAM RUBEN: I WANNA TASTE IT BUT IT’S JUST A PICTURE. IT’S CALLING ME!
VO: ANG CASSAVA CAKE! ANG MATAMIS NA PRODUKTO, NA MASARAP NA, SIGURADO PA ANG KITA. AT SINAMAHAN NGA TAYO NI MA’AM WELLA DACUYCUY KUNG PAANO GAWIN ITONG CASSAVA CAKE.
VO: THE CASSAVA CAKE! THIS SWEET PRODUCT IS NOT JUST DELICIOUS, BUT ALSO IS PROFITABLE. AND WE HAVE WITH US IS MA’AM WELLA DACUYCUY, TO TEACH US HOW TO MAKE CASSAVA CAKE.
VO: MADALI LANG PALA ITONG GAWIN MGA KA-AGRI! ILAGAY LAMANG ANG MGA SANKAP SA BOWL, PAGKATAPOS HALUIN, PAG NAIHALO NA ITO, ILAGAY NA SA BAKING PAN NA MAY MARGARIN AT I-BAKE NG ISANG ORAS.
VO: CASSAVE CAKE IS JUST EASY TO MAKE, KA-AGRI! PUT THE PREPARED INGREDIENTS IN A BOWL AND MIX IT. AFTER MIXING IT, PUT IT IN THE BAKING PAN THAT HAS ALREADY MARGARIN AND BAKE IT FOR AN HOUR.
VO: AYAN! LUTO NA ANG CASSAVA. MMM! ANG SARAP! ANG CASSAVA AT BANANA CHIPS AT IBA PANG PRODUKTONG TATAK CATEEL AY MAKIKITA SA KANILANG BARANGAY FOOD TERMINAL.
VO: THERE! OUR CASSAVA CAKE IS ALREADY BAKED. MMM! IT’S DELICIOUS! THE CASSAVA CAKE AND BANANA CHIPS AND OTHER REMARKABLE PRODUCTS FROM CATEEL CAN BE BOUGHT IN THEIR BARANGAY FOOD TERMINAL.
ON CAM ANDRESA[3]: DITO NILALAGAY YUNG MGA LAHAT NG PRODUKTO NG ATING AGRIKULTURA AT ANG PINAKASIKAT AY ANG DUMANG.
ON CAM ANDRESA: WE PUT ALL OUR AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS, AND THE MOST FAMOUS OF THOSE PRODUCTS IS DUMANG.
VO: ANG DUMANG AY ISANG PRODUKTONG GAWA MULA SA SILI.
VO: DUMANG IS A PRODUCT MADE OF CHILI.
ON CAM RUBEN: MGA KA-AGRI, MAKIKITA NIYO SA LIKURAN KO, ETO YUN RESULTA NUNG BAGYONG PABLO, ETO YUNG MGA PUNO, PERO UNTI-UNTI NA ITONG BUMABANGON. SA LOOB NG KAGUBATANG ITO, MAKIKITA NATIN YUNG HINAHANAP NIYONG SILI. TARA!
ON CAM RUBEN: KA-AGRI, YOU CAN SEE IT BEHIND ME IS THE EFFECTS OF THE DEVASTATION OF TYPHOON PABLO, HERE ARE THE TREES. BUT THESE ARE SLOWLY RECOVERING AND STANDING AGAIN. IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS FOREST LIES THE PLANT THAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR, THE CHILI. LET’S GO!
VO: AT TINAHAK KO NGA ANG KABUNDUKAN UPANG MAKITA ANG ESPESYAL NA SILING ITO.
VO: AND I CLIMBED THE MOUNTAINS JUST TO SEE THIS SPECIAL CHILI.
ON CAM RUBEN: WOW ANG DAMI!
ON CAM RUBEN: WOW! THERE’S A LOT OF CHILIS.
VO: AT UPANG TURUAN TAYO KUNG PAANO GUMAWA NITONG MASARAP NA DUMANG, MAKAKASAMA NATIN SI MANG LUIS BUENO, JR.
VO: AND TO TEACH US HOW TO MAKE THIS DELICIOUS DUMANG, WE HAVE WITH US IS MR. LUIS BUENO, JR.
VO: ANG UNANG GAGAWIN AY TANGGALIN ANG TANGKAY NG SILI. PAGKATAPOS, HUGASAN AT SALAIN ITO. PAGKATAPOS AY IBILAD SA ARAW AT PATUYUIN NG TATLO HANGGANG PITONG ARAW. PAG SIGURADONG TUYO AT MALUTONG NA ITO, KAILANGAN ITONG IDAAN SA PROSESO NG SORTING. TINATANGGAL ANG PUTI O ITIM NA MGA SILI UPANG HINDI ITO MAKAAPEKTO SA KULAY NG ATING GAGAWING CHILI POWDER.
VO: THE FIRST THING TO DO IS TO REMOVE THE STEM OF THE CHILI. THEN WASH IT AND STRAIN IN. AFTER, PUT IT UNDER THE HEAT OF THE SUN AND DRY IT FOR THREE TO SEVEN DAYS. IF IT’S ALREADY DRY AND CRISPY, THIS MUST UNDERGO THE PROCESS OF SORTING. IN SORTING, WE REMOVE THE BLACK AND WHITE CHILIS FOR IT NOT TO AFFECT THE COLOR THE FINISHED PRODUCT.
ON CAM LUIS[4]: I-UNA NATIN ITO. PAGKATAPOS ILAGAY NATIN ‘TONG DRIED CHILI PO.
ON CAM LUIS: WE WILL MIX IT FIRST. AND WE WILL PUT THE DRIED CHILI.
ON CAM RUBEN: KAILANGAN TALAGA MAG-MASK KA, KASI YUNG ANGHANG NG SILING LABUYO TALAGANG MASISINGHOT MO PUMAPASOK SA MATA PUMAPASOK SA ILONG. ETO NGA EH OH, NARARAMDAMAN KO KAHIT NAKA-MASK AKO.
ON CAM RUBEN: YOU SHOULD REALLY WEAR A MASK. BECAUSE THE SPICE OF THE CHILI CAN REALLY BE SMELLED AND FELT. I CAN FEEL AND SMELL IT EVEN IF I AM WEARING MASK.
VO: PAGKATAPOS NATIN SIYA IGALING, IPASOK NA NATIN SA BOTE. SALAIN ITO UPANG MATANGGAL ANG MGA PIRASONG NANATILING BUO AT HINDI NA KAYA PANG GAWING MAS PINO.
VO: AFTER WE GRIND IT, WE WILL PUT IT IN THE BOTTLES. LET’S STRAIN IT FOR US TO REMOVE THE BIGGER PIECES THAT CAN’T BE GRINDED ANYMORE.
ON CAM LUIS: PAGKATAPOS NATIN SIYANG SALAIN, ILALAGAY NA NATIN SIYA SA BOTE.
ON CAM LUIS: AFTER WE STRAIN IT, WE WILL PUT IT IN THE BOTTLE.
VO: AT AYAN... READY NA ITONG PAGKAKITAAN! SA HALAGANG NINE HUNDRED THIRTY PESOS AY MAKAKAGAWA NA TAYO NG LABINLIMANG TIG-TWO HUNDRED ML NA DUMANG, KAYA MAY KITA KANG ONE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED PESOS AT MAY SARAP KITA NA FIVE HUNDRED SEVENTY PESOS. AT ETONG MULI ANG PARAAN SA PAGGAWA NG ESPESYAL DUMANG.
VO: AND THERE YOU GO…IT CAN NOW BE PROFITABLE. WITH JUST NINE HUNDRED THIRTY PESOS, YOU CAN ALREADY MAKE FIFTEEN PIECES OF TWO HUNDRED ML OF DUMANG. YOU CAN EARN ONE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED PESOS AND YOU’LL HAVE A NET PROFIT OF FIVE HUNDRED SEVENTY PESOS. AGAIN, HERE ARE THE STEPS IN MAKING THE SPECIAL DUMANG.
ON CAM RUBEN: TALAGANG NAGBIBIGAY ITO NG PAG-ASA. SILING LABUYO, NAGHAHATID DIN NG SARAP KITA!
ON CAM RUBEN: THIS DEFINITELY GIVES US HOPE. SILING LABUYO ALSO GIVES US…
ON CAM BOTH: SARAP KITA!
HYPE NEXT SEGMENT

VO: SUSUNOD! BILIS ASENSONG PAGBABABUYAN NA NAMAN ANG ATING SUSUNOD NA TALAKAYAN SA PAGBABALIK YAN NG AGRI TAYO DITO!
VO: UP NEXT! WE WILL AGAIN TALK ABOUT QUICK SUCCESS IN HOG RAISING WHEN AGRI TAYO DITO RETURNS.


END OF BODY 2

BODY 3 (TRT – 6:50)

HANEP BABOY – HEAT STRESS

VO: SA PAGPAPATULOY PA RIN NG ATING USAPANG TUNGKOL SA HEAT STRESS AY NANDITO PA RIN TAYO SA SAN MIGUEL ANIMAL HEALTH CARE SA ORTIGAS, PASIG – ANG PUGAD NG PRODUCT INNOVATIONS NG COUNTRY’S TRUSTED FEED BRAND, B-MEG.
VO: IN THE CONTINUATION OF OUR DISCUSSION ABOUT HEAT STRESS, WE ARE STILL HERE AT SAN MIGUEL ANIMAL HEALTH CARE IN ORTIGAS, PASIG – THE HEADQUARTERS OF PRODUCT INNOVATIONS OF THE COUNTRY’S TRUSTED FEED BRAND, B-MEG.
VO: AT NGAYON NAMAN, AALAMIN NATING ANG MGA DAHILAN KUNG BAKIT NASTESTRESS ANG ATING MGA ALAGANG BABOY NGAYONG MAINIT ANG PANAHON, SA TULONG PA RIN NG ATING US-TRAINED VETERINARIAN NA SI DOK EUGENE MENDE.
VO: AND NOW, WE WILL DISCOVER THE CAUSE OF STRESS THAT OUR PIGS EXPERIENCE NOW THAT THE WEATHER IS SO HOT, WITH THE HELP OF OUR US-TRAINED VETERINARIAN, DR. EUGENE MENDE.
ON CAM EUGENE[5]: MAGANDANG UMAGA, MGA KA-AGRI. SUMMER NA NAMAN. AT PAGKA-SUMMER, ANG HAYOP NA TALAGANG NAGHIHIRAP SA INIT NG PANAHON AY ANG BABOY.
ON CAM EUGENE: GOOD MORNING, KA-AGRI! IT’S SUMMER TIME ONCE AGAIN. AND DURING SUMMER TIME, THE ANIMAL THAT IS HAVING HARD TIME IN HOT WEATHER ARE THE PIGS.
ON CAM EUGENE: KASI ANG MGA BABOY MGA KA-AGRI, UNANG-UNA, WALA SILANG SWEAT GLANDS, SO WALANG MAILABAS ANG INIT NGA KANILANG KATAWAN. PANGALAWA, ANG LIIT-LIIT NG BAGA O LUNGS NG MGA BABOY KUMPARA SA LAKI NG KANILANG KATAWAN. KAYA ANG HIRAP PUMASOK NG OXYGEN.
ON CAM EUGENE: KA-AGRI, FIRST AND FOREMOST, PIGS DON’T HAVE SWEAT GLANDS, SO THEY CAN’T RELEASE THE HEAT OF THEIR BODY. SECONDLY, THEY HAVE SMALL LUNGS COMPARED TO THE SIZE OF THEIR BODY. THAT’S WHY THE OXYGEN CAN BARELY ENTER THEIR LUNGS.
ON CAM EUGENE: AT DAHIL PANT SILA NG PANT, DAPAT SILANG HUMINGA OR TALAGANG NAHIHIRAPAN SILANG HUMINGA, ANG LAKAS-LAKAS ANG PAGLABAS NG CARBON DIOXIDE SO NAPAKA-IMBALANCE NG KATAWAN NG BABOY NGAYONG PANAHON NA ITO.
ON CAM EUGENE: BECAUSE OF FREQUENT PANTING, THEY ARE HAVING HARD TIME BREATHING. THERE IS FAST RELEASE OF CARBON DIOXIDE THAT CAUSES IMBALANCE IN THE BODY OF THE PIGS DURING THIS SEASON.
ON CAM EUGENE: PANGATLO, ANG KAPAL NG KANILANG TABA KAYA TALAGANG WALANG MAKAKALABAS NA HANGIN MULA SA KANILANG KATAWAN. DAHIL DITO, ANG MGA BABOY TUWING TAG-INIT, AYAW KUMAIN, NAKAHIGA LAMANG O DI KAYA AY NAGLALARO SA TUBIG. APEKTADO ANG KANILANG PAGKAIN. ITO ANG PROBLEMA NATIN SA PANAHONG ITO.
ON CAM EUGENE: THIRDLY, THE THICKNESS OF THEIR FATS INCAPACITATES THEM TO RELEASE AIR FROM THEIR BODY. AND BECAUSE OF THIS, THE PIGS DURING THIS SEASON WON’T EAT, JUST LIE AROUND OR PLAY WITH WATER. THEIR APPETITE IS AFFECTED IN THIS SEASON OF HEAT.
ON CAM EUGENE: ANG PINAKA-WORST NITO, MGA KA-AGRI, AY DOON SA ATING MGA MALALAKING BABOY, LALO NA YUNG MGA INAHIN NATIN AT MGA BARAKO. SA SUMMER, DITO NANGYAYARI ANG SUMMER INFERTILITY. AYAW MAGLANDI NG ATING MGA BABOY NA BABAE, AT ANG BARAKO NATIN AY PANGIT ANG SEMILYA, AT ANG MGA BABAE NAMAN NATIN KAPAG BINULOG, MADALAS MA-AGASAN.
ON CAM EUGENE: THE WORST THING HERE, KA-AGRI, IS FOR THE LARGER PIGS, ESPECIALLY THE SOWS AND HOGS. THE INFERTILITY HAPPENS DURING SUMMER. THE SOWS WON’T FLIRT, AND THE SPERM’S QUALITY OF HOGS ARE POOR.
ON CAM EUGENE: KAYA KAILANGAN PAPANGUNAHAN NATIN ANG PROBLEMA SA TAG-INIT. ANG NAPAKA-IMPORTANTE AY ANG MGA TIPS NATIN PARA MAS MALAMIG ANG PANAHON KAHIT MAINIT.
ON CAM EUGENE: THAT’S WHY WE SHOULD GO AHEAD THESE SUMMER PROBLEMS. THE MOST IMPORTANT THING ARE THE TIPS TO COOL DOWN THE TEMPERATURE IF IT’S TOO HOT.
ON CAM EUGENE: TIGNAN NATIN YUNG MAS MADALAS NA PAGPAPALIGO. KUNG DATI-DATI, ONCE OR TWICE LANG TAYO MAGPALIGO, NGAYON PAKUNTI-KUNTI PERO MAS MADALAS NA PAGPAPALIGO. UNANG-UNA DIYAN, ALAS OTSO NG UMAGA, ALAS DIYES, ALAS DOSE, ALAS DOS, ALAS KWATRO AT ALAS SAIS.
ON CAM EUGENE: LET’S MAKE SURE THE FREQUENT BATHING OF OUR PIGS. IF BEFORE, WE ONLY BATH THEM ONCE OR TWICE A DAY, LET’S MAKE IT LESS BUT MORE FREQUENT. YOU BATHE THEM FIRST AT EIGHT AND TEN IN THE MORNING, TWELVE IN THE MIDDAY, TWO AND FOR IN THE AFTERNOON AND SIX IN THE EVENING.
ON CAM EUGENE: KUNG MAHIRAP ANG TUBIG SA ATIN, KAHIT BASAIN LANG NATIN ANG ULO NG ATING MGA BABOY PARA HINDI MASYADONG BASA ANG KULUNGAN NATIN. KASI PAG MASYADONG BASA NAMAN ANG KULUNGAN NATIN, TATAAS NAMAN YUNG HUMIDITY, MAGIGING HUMID NAMAN ANG BABUYAN NATIN. PAG HUMID LALO SILANG MAHIHIRAPAN NA HUMINGA.
ON CAM EUGENE: IF YOU HAVE PROBLEMS WITH WATER SOURCE, WE JUST HAVE TO BATHE THE HEADS OF OUR PIGS TO MAKE SURE THAT OUR CAGES ARE NOT SO WET. IF THE CAGE IS SO WET, THE HUMIDITY WILL INCREASE. IF THE CAGE IS TOO HUMID, THE PIGS WILL HAVE HARD TIME BREATHING.
ON CAM EUGENE: DITO NAMAN MAKAKATULONG KUNG TITIGNAN NATIN ANG MGA BABUYAN NATIN KUNG MASYADONG MABABA ANG MGA KULUNGAN NGA MGA BABOY NATIN, LAGYAN NATIN NG MGA KARTON ANG MGA GI SHEETS O KANILANG MGA BUBONG, O ANUMANG PWEDENG ILAGAY UPANG MA-BLOCK LANG YUNG DIRECT NA INIT MULA SA ARAW.
ON CAM EUGENE: IT WILL HELP IF WE MAKE SURE THAT THE CAGE IS NOT SO LOW. WE SHOULD PUT CARTON BOXES BELOW OUR GI SHEETS, OR ANYTHING THAT WOULD BLOCK THE DIRECT HEAT FROM THE SUN.
ON CAM EUGENE: ISA PA RITO MGA KA-AGRI, TIGNAN NATIN ANG PAGPAPAPAKAIN. NAPAKA-IMPORTANTE NA KAUNTI ANG KAIN PERO MAS MADALAS. KUNG DATI-DATI, DALAWANG BESES LANG TAYO MAGPAKAIN, ISANG BESES SA UMAGA, ISANG BESES SA HAPON.
ON CAM EUGENE: ANOTHER THING, KA-AGRI, LET’S CAREFULLY CHECK THE FEEDING. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT THEY ARE EATING LESS BUT MORE FREQUENT. IF BEFORE, WE ONLY FEED THEM TWO TIMES A DAY, ONE IN THE MORNING AND ONE IN THE AFTERNOON.
ON CAME EUGENE: ANG NANGYAYARI NUN AY MAS MARAMI ANG NAKAKAKAIN NILA. PAG SILA AY KUMAKAIN NG MARAMI, LALO SILANG NAG-IINIT ANG KANILANG KATAWAN, SO HINDI SILA KUMAKAIN NG MARAMI, OR KUNG KUMAKAIN MAN NG MARAMI LALO SILANG NAGPAPANT, LALO SILANG NAHIHIRAPANG HUMINGA.
ON CAM EUGENE: WHAT HAPPENS USUALLY IS THAT THEY EAT A LOT. IF THEY ARE EATING A LOT, THEIR BODIES ARE GETTING WARMER AND THEY ARE PRONE TO EXTREME PANTING, WHICK MAKES THEM HARDER TO BREATHE.
ON CAM EUGENE: SO KUNG DATI-DATI TWICE NA PAGPAPAKAIN, GAWIN NATING THREE TIMES O FOUR TIMES. AT ILIPAT SA GABI ANG PAGPAPAKAIN. KASI KUNG KAILAN GAGABI AT LALAMIG ANG PANAHON, DUN SILA KAKAIN. HINDI NASASAYANG YUNG FEEDS NATIN.
ON CAM EUGENE: IF BEFORE WE FEED THEM TWICE A DAY, LET’S MAKE IT THREE OR FOUR TIMES THIS TIME. TRANSFER THE FEEDING TIME IN THE EVENING. THEY EAT MORE DURING THE EVENING AND WHEN THE TEMPERATURE IS COOLER. WITH THAT, OUR FEEDS WON’T BE WASTED.
ON CAM EUGENE: DITO RIN IMPORTANTE ANG KALIDAD NG KINAKAIN NG MGA BABOY NATIN KASI NGA SA MAINIT NA PANAHON, KUKUNTI O BUMABAGAL ANG KANILANG PAGKAIN. NAPAKA-IMPORTANTE NA BAWAT BUTIL O BAWAT PELLET NA KINAKAIN AY MATAAS SA NUTRISYON.
ON CAM EUGENE: THE QUALITY OF THE FEEDS EATEN BY OUR PIGS IS VERY IMPORTANT ESPECIALLY IF THE WEATHER IS HOT BECAUSE IT IS IN THIS SEASON THAT THE APPETITE OF OUR PIGS IS GETTING SLOW. THAT’S WHY IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT EVERY PELLET THAT THEY ARE EATING IS RICH IN NUTRITION.
ON CAM EUGENE: DITO PO NATIN KAILANGAN I-PREMIUM FEEDS ANG ATING PAGPAPAKAIN. NAPAKA-IMPORTANTE DIN ANG PREMIUM FEEDS, ANG INGREDIENTS NITO AY MADALING MATUNAW. KAPAG KA ANG INGREDIENTS NATIN AY MAHIRAP TUNAWIN, LALONG NAHIHIRAPANG MAG-PROCESS ANG MGA BABOY NATIN.
ON CAM EUGENE: THIS IS WHERE WE SHOULD FEED OUR PIGS PREMIUM FEEDS. PREMIUM FEEDS IS VERY IMPORTANT BECAUSE ITS INGREDIENTS ARE EASY TO DIGEST. IF THE INGREDIENTS ARE HARD TO DIGEST, THE PIGS’ SYSTEM WILL HAVE HARD TIME PROCESSING IT.
ON CAM EUGENE: ANG B-MEG PREMIUM FEEDS, MALIBAN PA SA KANILANG LEAN PLUS TECHNOLOGY FORMULATION, AY MERONG ANTI HEAT STRESS FORMULA. SINIGURADO NAMIN NA ANG LAHAT NG SANGKAP AY NAKAKABUTI SA WATER RETENTION O MAS NAKAKAPANATILI ANG TUBIG NGAYONG PANAHON NG TAG-INIT SA ATING MGA BABOY.
ON CAM EUGENE: THE B-MEG PREMIUM FEEDS, ASIDE FROM ITS LEAN PLUS TECHNOLOGY FORMULATION, IT ALSO HAS ANTI HEAT STRESS FORMULA. WE MADE SURE THAT THE INGREDIENTS CAN HELP IN THE WATER RETENTION OF OUR PIGS ESPECIALLY IN THE DRY OR HOT SEASON.
ON CAM EUGENE: ISA PA SA PINAKA-IMPORTANTENG PROBLEMA NGAYONG TAG-INIT AY NAWAWALAN NG ELECTROLYTES ANG KATAWAN NG ATING BABOY. ANG ELECTROLYTES ANG NAGME-MAINTAIN NG KATAWAN NG ATING MGA BABOY AT NAGBIBIGAY NG DIRECT ENERGY.
ON CAM EUGENE: ANOTHER MAJOR PROBLEM IN THIS HOT SEASON IS THAT OUR PIGS LOSE A LOT OF ELECTROLYTES. ELECTROLYTES MAINTAINS THE BODY OF OUR PIGS AND GIVES THEM DIRECT ENERGY.
ON CAM EUGENE: PARA MAIBIGAY ANG TAMANG ELECTROLYTES, BUMILI LAMANG TAYO NG SAN MIGUEL ANIMAL HEALTH CARE ELEC-V. ANTG ELEC-V AY KUMPLETONG ELECTROLYTES, KUMPLETONG SANGKAP NG ELECTROLYTES FROM BICARBONATES TO SODIUM TO POTASSIUM. KAILANGAN YAN PARA MAS MAPANATILING MAGANA ANG KONDISYON NG MGA BABOY, BABALIK ANG GANANG KUMAIN, PAGTAYO PARA UMINOM NG TUBIG, AT PAGTAYO PARA KUMAIN.
ON CAM EUGENE: TO GIVE THEM THE RIGHT ELECTROLYTES, WE SHOULD ONLY BUY THE SAN MIGUEL ANIMAL HEALTH CARE ELEC-V. THE ELEC-V IS COMPLETE IN ELECTROLYTES, COMPLETE FORMULATION OF ELECTROLYTES FROM BICARBONATES TO SODIUM TO POTASSIUM. IT IS NEEDED TO MAINTAIN THE CONDITION OF THE APPETITE OF OUR PIGS, THEIR APPETITES WILL COME BACK AND THEY CAN ALREADY STAND WHEN THEY EAT OR DRINK.
ON CAM EUGENE: IHALO LAMANG ANG ISANG SACHET NG ELEC-V SA ISANG GALONG TUBIG. ARAW-ARAW MO ITO IBIGAY PAG TINGIN MO MAINIT ANG PANAHON AT NANGHIHINA ANG ATING MGA BABOY.
ON CAM EUGENE: JUST MIX ONE SACHET OF ELEC-V IN A GALLON OF WATER. GIVE IT TO THEM EVERYDAY ESPECIALLY IF THE WEATHER IS HOT AND IF THEY ARE GETTING WEAK.
ON CAM EUGENE: MALIBAN PA SA MAINIT NA PANAHON, PROBLEMA NGAYON WALANG GANA KUMAIN ANG MGA BABOY. PARA BUMANAT ANG KANILANG PAGKAIN, GUMAMIT NG MULTI-V.
ON CAM EUGENE: ASIDE FROM THE HOT WEATHER, ANOTHER PROBLEM IS THE POOR APPETITE OF OUR PIGS. TO INCREASE THEIR APPETITE, GIVE THEM MULTI-V.
ON CAM EUGENE: ANG MULTI-V ANG KUMPLETONG MULTIVITAMINS AT AMINO ACIDS PARA KAILANGAN NG MGA BABOY PARA BUMALIK ANG GANANG KUMAIN, ANG LISTO AT BILIS.
ON CAM EUGENE: THE MULTI-V IS COMPLETE IN MULTIVITAMINS AND AMINO ACIDS WHICH HELPS OUR PIGS TO REGAIN THEIR APPETITE, STRENGTH AND ENERGY.
ON CAM EUGENE: IHALO LAMANG SA ISANG GALONG TUBIG ANG ISANG SACHET NG MULTI-V. PARA MALABANAN ANG MAINIT NA PANAHON, MAGBIGAY LAMANG NG TOTOONG PREMIUM FEEDS, AT MGA HIGH QUALITY HEALTH SUPPLEMENTS.
ON CAM EUGENE: UST MIX ONE SACHET OF MULTI-V IN A GALLON OF WATER. TO COMBAT THE EXTREME HEAT, JUST GIVE THEM THE TRUE PREMIUM FEEDS, AND HIGH QUALITY HEALTH SUPPLEMENTS.
ON CAM EUGENE: PARA SA IBA PANG PRACTICAL TIPS SA HOG RAISING, I-LIKE ANG B-MEG PREMIUM HOG RAISING FACEBOOK FAN PAGE OR BUMISITA SA B-MEG WEBSITE.
ON CAM EUGENE: FOR OTHER PRACTICAL TIPS IN HOG RAISING, JUST LIKE THE B-MEG PREMIUM HOG RAISING FACEBOOK FAN PAGE OR VISIT THE B-MEG WEBSITE.
VO: SA WASTONG PAG-AALAGA NG BABOY AT PAGGAMIT NG TOTOONG PREMIUM FEEDS AT DEKALIDAD NA GAMOT, MAIIWASAN NATIN ANG MASAMANG DULOT NG MAINIT NA PANAHON AT NG HEAT STRESS. MAS GAGANDA PA LALO ANG ATING HOG RAISING BUSINESS AT MAS AASENSO PA TAYO KASAMA ANG B-MEG PREMIUM HOG PELLETS, THE ONLY FEED WITH LEAN PLUS TECHNOLOGY NA PANLBAN DIN SA HEAT STRESS.
VO: WITH THE PROPER CARE OUR PIGS AND THE USE OF PREMIUM FEEDS, WE CAN AVOID THE BAD EFFECTS OF HOT WEATHER AND HEAT STRESS. OUR HOG RAISING BUSINESS WILL PROSPER AND SUCCEED WITH THE USE OF B-MEG PREMIUM HOG PELLETS, THE ONLY FEED WITH LEAN PLUS TECHNOLOGY, THAT CAN ALSO FIGHT AGAINST HEAT STRESS.
VO: ISANG ARAL NA NAMAN HATID NG HANEP BABOY!
VO: ANOTHER LEARNINGS BROUGHT TO US BY HANEP BABOY!
VO: AT MGA KA-AGRI, DAHIL NGA KA-PARTNER NATIN SA USAPANG BILIS ASENSO ANG B-MEG AT SAN MIGUEL ANIMAL HEALTH CARE, ISANG AGRICULTURE AND LIVESTOCK EXPO PO ANG GAGANAPIN NGAYON JUNE FOUR TO SIX SA SMX CONVENTION CENTER, SM LANANG PREMIER, LANANG, DAVAO CITY. TATLONG ARAW PO NA SIKSIK SA KAALAMAN SA PAGHAHAYUPAN LALO NA SA PAGBABABUYAN NA INIHANDA NG B-MEG AT SAN MIGUEL ANIMAL HEALTH CARE. KAYA, WAG NIYO PO YANG PALALAMPASIN, MGA KA-AGRI, KASI KASAMA NATIN ANG B-MEG SA PAGBILIS ASENSO NG MGA PILIPINO.
VO: KA-AGRI, SINCE B-MEG AND SAN MIGUEL HEALTH CARE ARE OUR PARTNERS IN DISCUSSIONS IN QUICK SUCCESS, AN AGRICULTURE AND LIVESTOCK EXPO WILL BE HELD THIS JUNE FOUR TO SIX AT SMX CONVENTION CENTER, SM LANANG PREMIERE, LANANG, DAVAO CITY. THREE DAYS OF FULL-PACKED LEARNINGS IN LIVESTOCK, ESPECIALLY IN HOG RAISING BROUGHT TO US BY B-MEG AND SAN MIGUEL ANIMAL HEALTH CARE. DON’T MISS THIS EVENT, KA-AGRI, BECAUSE B-MEG WILL ALWAYS BE THERE FOR THE QUICK SUCCESS OF THE FILIPINOS.


REJOINDER

VO: KAKAIBA TALAGA ANG HATID NA BAGONG KAALAMAN NG BILIS ASENSONG PAGBABABOY. AT KUNG TALAKAYAN NA BAGO ANG PAG-UUSAPAN, ATIN NAMANG TUNGHAYAN ANG KWENTO NG ISANG BUHAY NA NAGBAGO DAHIL SA PAGSISIKAP SA AGRICULTURA DITO LANG SA AGRIBIDA!
VO: AMAZING ARE THE NEW KNOWLEDGE WE GOT ON QUICK SUCCESS IN HOG RAISING. AND TALKING ABOUT NEW DISCUSSIONS, LET’S WITNESS A STORY OF A LIFE THAT HAS CHANGED BECAUSE OF HARWORK AND PERSEVERANCE ONLY HERE IN AGRIBIDA.


AGRIBIDA SEGMENT – CAMILO SALBANIA

ON CAM RUBEN: HINDI MAIKAKAILA NA KAY RAMING MGA PAGSUBOK ANG KINAKAHARAP NG ATING MGA KA-AGRING MAGSASAKA. NARIYAN ANG MATINDING INIT KAKULANGAN NG IRIGASYON, AT MGA PESTE NA SUMISIRA SA KANILANG MGA PANANIM. PERO BUKOD DIYAN, MAYROON TAYONG MGA KA-AGRING MAGSASAKA NA DI PANGKARANIWAN ANG PAGSUBOK PARA MAPAUNLAD LAMANG ANG KANILANG KABUHAYAN.
ON CAM RUBEN: IT CANNOT BE DENIED THAT THERE ARE A LOT OF TRIALS THAT OUR KA-AGRING FARMERS EXPERIENCE. THERE IS TOO MUCH HEAT, LACK OF IRRIGATION, AND PESTS THAT DESTROYS THEIR PLANTS. BUT ASIDE FROM THAT, WE HAVE KA-AGRING FARMERS THAT EXPERIENCE UNIQUE ORDEALS WHILE MAKING THEIR LIVES BETTER.
VO: AT DITO NGA SA PROBINSYA NG DAVAO ORIENTAL, ATING MAKIKILALA ANG ISANG MAGSASAKANG NAIIBA ANG PAGSUBOK SA BUHAY NGUNIT HINDI SUMUSUKO, MAKAMIT LANG ANG TAGUMPAY.
VO: HERE IN THE PROVINCE OF DAVAO ORIENTAL, WE WILL GET TO KNOW A FARMER WITH UNIQUE TRIAL IN LIFE BUT NEVER GIVES UP JUST TO ACHIEVE SUCCESS IN LIFE.
ON CAM CAMILO[6]: AKO PO SI CAMILO SALBANIA, ISANG UPLAND RICE FARMER DITO SA CATEEL, DAVAO ORIENTAL.
ON CAM CAMILO: I AM CAMILO SALBANIA, AN UPLAND RICE FARMER HERE IN CATEEL, DAVAO ORIENTAL.
VO: MAAGANG NAMULAT SI MANG CAMILO SA PAGSASAKA DAHIL NA RIN SA IMPLUWENSIYA NG MGA MAGULANG. SIYA ANG NAGING KATULONG NG KANYANG AMA SA PAGSASAKA NG KANILANG MALIIT NA LUPAIN.
VO: MANG CAMILO HAS STARTED FARMING AT AN EARLY AGE WITH THE STRONG INFLUENCE FROM HIS PARENTS. HE BECAME THE STRONGHOLD OF HIS FATHER IN FARMING THEIR SMALL PARCEL OF LAND.
ON CAM CAMILO: PAGTABANG NAKO SA AKONG PAPA, ANG AMONG ABOT MAO NA’Y GIPASKWELA SA AKONG MGA MANGHOD. HUROT MI NUON NAKAGRADUATE SA HIGH SCHOOL PERO WALA MI MAKATAPOS SA KOLEHIYO.
ON CAM CAMILO: WHEN I STARTED HELPING MY FATHER, EVERY PIECE OF INCOME THAT WE GET HAS SENT MY YOUNGER SIBLINGS TO SCHOOL. ME AND MY YOUNGER SIBLINGS WERE ABLE TO FINISH HIGH SCHOOL BUT WEREN’T ABLE TO FINISH COLLEGE.
VO: DAHIL NA RIN SA KAKULANGAN SA PANGGASTOS SA PARA SA KOLEHIYO, MAS MINABUTI NI MANG CAMILO NA IPAGPATULOY ANG PAGSASAKA. PERO SA DI INAASAHANG PAGKAKATAON…
VO: BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF MONEY TO BE SPENT FOR THEIR COLLEGE EXPENSES, CAMILO DECIDED TO CONTINUE FARMING TO HELP HIS FAMILY. UNTIL ONE UNEXPECTED INCIDENT CAME…
VO: NAGKAROON MAN NG KAPANSANAN, HINDI NAGING SAGABAL KAY MANG CAMILO ANG NAGING KAPANSANAN UPANG IPAGPATULOY ANG PAGSISIKAP SA BUHAY.
VO: BUT MANG CAMILO’S DISABILITY NEVER BECAME A HINDRANCE FOR HIM TO CONTINUE TO WORK HARD FOR THE BETTERMENT OF HIS LIFE AND HIS FAMILY.
VO: AT INAAKALA NG MARAMI NA IYON NA ANG PINAKAMALAKING HAMON SA BUHAY. NOONG 2012, HINAGUPIT NG NAPAKALAKAS NA BAGYONG PABLO ANG DAVAO ORIENTAL. AT ISA NA NGA ANG SAKAHAN NI MANG CAMILO SA MGA NABURA NG BAGYO.
VO: UNFORTUNATELY IN 2012, SUPER TYPHOON PABLO BROUGHT DAVAO ORIENTAL ON ITS KNEES. AND ONE OF THE WORST HIT BY THE TYPHOON WAS THE FARM OF MANG CAMILO.
VO: PERO DAHIL SA TIBAY NG LOOB AT PANANALIG SA DIYOS NI MANG CAMILO AT PATI NA NG MGA CATEELEÑOS, HINDI SILA NAGPATALO SA BAGYONG PABLO. SA KATUNAYAN ISA SI MANG CAMILO SA MGA NANGUNA UPANG MAKABANGON ANG MGA KATULAD NIYANG MAY KAPANSANAN SA TULONG NA RIN NG IBA’T IBANG FOUNDATION NA MAY LAYUNING MABIGYAN NG HANAPBUHAY ANG MGA KATULAD NIYA.
VO: BUT BECAUSE OF THE STRONG FAITH OF CATEELEÑOS, THEY NEVER LET SUPER TYPHOON PABLO BRING THEM DOWN. MANG CAMILO WAS ONE WHO HEADED THE RISE OF THE PEOPLE LIKE HIM WHO HAVE DISABILITIES, WITH THE HELP OF OTHER FOUNDATIONS WHOSE GOAL IS TO GIVE LIVELIHOOD TO PEOPLE LIKE MANG CAMILO.
ON CAM CAMILO: KARON, GIINGNAN NAKO ANG FOUNDATION NG NAA’Y AREA BALIGYA, MAO NANG GIANHIAN NA MI. SO ANG NAGPALIT ANI, ANG FOUNDATION PARA SA MGA DISBALED. SO MAO NI RON AMONG TRABAHO, ANG MGA DISABLED, KAMI ANG NAGTANOM PARA SA AMONG PANGINABUHIAN.
ON CAM CAMILO: AFTER TYPHOON PABLO, ONE FOUNDATION THAT HELPS PERSONS WITH DISABILITY WENT HERE IN CATEEL. I TOLD THEM THAT THERE IS AN AREA FOR SALE THAT’S WHY THEY WENT HERE. THE FOUNDATION BOUGHT THE LAND FOR THE PWDS. SO THIS IS OUR JOB NOW, THE PWDS, TO PLANT AND FARM AS OUR SOURCE OF LIVELIHOOD.
ON CAM CAMILO: SO NAG-AGWANTA NA LANG MI DIRI, KAMING MGA PWD NANINGKAMOT MI. KAY AKONG MGA KAUBAN MGA PWD, MAO’Y PANGINABUHIAN, MAGSASAKA MAN NA SILA TANAN. NAGKAMANG ANG UBAN, USAHAY NAAMAN AMONG MGA SERBIS NA KABAW, KANGGA. KANANG KAROSA MAO NANG MUSAKAY SILA, MAO NANG MUABOT DIRI. ANG UBAN NAGWHEELCHAIR MUABOT DIRI.
ON CAM CAMILO: WE SUFFERED HERE, BUT WE ARE STILL DOING OUR BEST TO SURVIVE. MY COLLEAGUES HERE ARE ALL FARMERS, SOME ARE HAVING HARD TIME. SOMETIMES, AN IMPROVISED CARRIAGE PULLED BY A CARABAO IS TRANSPORTING SOME OF THEM. SOME OF THEM ARE ON THEIR WHEELCHAIRS COMING HERE.
VO: SA KABILA NG PAGHIHIRAP NA AKYATIN ANG MATARIK NA BUNDOK NG CATEEL, SAMA-SAMA PA RIN SINA MANG CAMILO AT ANG KANYANG GRUPO SA PAGTATANIM NG PALAY MAITAWID LANG ANG KANILANG PANG-ARAW-ARAW NG PAMUMUHAY.
VO: DESPITE THE TRIALS IN CLIMBING UP THE STEEP MOUNTAINS OF CATEEL, MANG CAMILO AND THE WHOLE GROUP ARE STILL HAND-IN-HAND IN PLANTING RICE PLANT IN THEIR FIELDS JUST TO SUSTAIN THEIR DAILY NEEDS.
VO: NAKAKAHANGA ANG DETERMINASYON AT PAGSISIKAP NILANG MANG CAMILO AT KANYANG KASAMA.
VO: THE DETERMINATION AND HARDWORK OF MANG CAMILO AND HIS COLLEAGUES ARE REALLY PRAISE-WORTHY.
ON CAM CAMILO: NAGPASALAMAT KO SA GINOO NGA GITAGAAN MI SA GINOO UG MAAYONG TINDOG SA AMONG HUMAY NGA MAKA HARVEST MI NGA MAKAKAON MI.
ON CAM CAMILO: I THANK GOD FOR GIVING US GOOD QUALITY OF CROPS, WHICH WE COULD HARVEST, AND THAT WE COULD EAT.
VO: AT KAHIT PA MAY KAPANSANAN, BALE-WALA ITO KAY MANG CAMILO DAHIL MAS NANGINGIBAW ANG KANYANG PANINIWALANG MAKAKAAHON SILA SA KAHIRAPAN KAHIT ANO PA MANG BAGYO ANG DUMAAN. AT PARA SA MGA KAGAYA NIYANG MAY KAPANSANAN NA NAWAWALAN NA NG PAG-ASA, MAY MUNTING MENSAHE SI MANG CAMILO
VO: WHATEVER STRONG TYPHOON THAT MAY COME HIS WAY, MANG CAMILO DISREGARDS HIS DISABILITIES BECAUSE OF HIS STRONG BELIEF THAT HE AND HIS FAMILY WILL RISE FROM POVERTY. AND TO THOSE LIKE MANG CAMILO WHO HAVE PHYSICAL DISABILITIES THAT ARE LOSING EVERY INCH OF HOPE, HE HAS A SMALL MESSAGE…
ON CAM CAMILO: KANA SILA, MAO NA LANG ILANG MAHUNA-HUNAAN KAY HOPELESS NA SILA KAY DI MAN SILA KALIHOK. AYAW MO PANG-WA’G PANGLAOM, KAY ANG GINOO NAGTAN-AW SATOA.
ON CAM CAMILO: THAT’S WHAT THEY THINK, THAT THEY ARE HOPELESS BECAUSE THEY CAN’T MOVE AND WORK FREELY. BUT I TOLD THEM TO NOT TO LOSE HOPE BECAUSE GOD ALWAYS WATCHES US.
VO: AT BILANG PRESIDENTE NG KANILANG ORGANISASYON, PATULOY SA PAGSUSULONG NG KANYANG LAYUNIN AT PAGHAHANAP NG MAKAKATULONG SI MANG CAMILO UPANG MAKABANGON ANG KANYANG MGA KASAMAHAN.
VO: AND BECAUSE HE IS THE PRESIDENT OF THEIR ORGANIZATION THAT THEY CALL CTPC OR THE CATEEL THIS-ABLED PERSONS PRODUCER COOPERATIVE, HE CONTINUES TO PROMOTE THEIR CAUSE AND CONTINUOUSLY LOOKING FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE WILLING TO HELP HIS COLLEAGUES IMPROVE THEIR LIVES.
ON CAM IGNATIUS[7]: DAKO KAAYO AMONG PASALAMAT SA MGA TAO NGA NITABANG ARON MAGMALAMPUSON UG MABUNGAHON KINING AMONG ASOSASYON ILABI NA SA AMONG CHAIRMAN NGA SI KAGAWAD CAMILO SA IYANG PAGPURSIGE NGA KINI AMONG KOOPERATIBA BISAN SA KABILA SA AMONG PAGKAKAIBA SA IBA.
ON CAM IGNATIUS: WE ARE VERY GRATEFUL OF THE PEOPLE THAT HELPED US IN MAKING OUR ASSOCIATION BOUNTIFUL AND SUCCESSFUL, ESPECIALLY TO OUR CHAIRMAN, CAMILO IN HIS HARDWORK FOR THIS COOPERATIVE DESPITE ITS BEING UNIQUE FROM OTHERS.
ON CAM RAYMUNDO[8]: BISAN KINI AKOANG AMOANG KAHIMTANG MGA DISABLED, PERO DI MI MAWAD-AN UG PAGLAUM
ON CAM RAYMUNDO: EVEN THOUGH WE ARE DISABLED, WE WILL NEVER LOSE HOPE.
ON CAM CAMILO: ANG IMPORTANTE KARON SA MGA DISABLED DIRI ANG LIVELIHOOD GYUD. BISAN GAMAY LANG MAKA-ADVANCE LANG IYAN PANGINABUHIAN, MAG-INCOME LANG SIYA TAGA-ADLAW.
ON CAM CAMILO: THE MOST IMPORTANT THING FOR THE PWDS HERE NOW IS LIVELIHOOD. EVEN IF IT’S JUST A SMALL PIECE OF INCOME, AS LONG AS WE EARN EVERYDAY.
VO: NAKAKAHANGA TALAGA ANG KATATAGAN NI MANG CAMILO AT ANG KWENTO NG PAGBANGON SA KAHIRAPAN AT MGA HAMON SA BUHAY. SANA’Y MAS DUMAMI PA ANG INYONG MATULUNGAN AT ANG MGA MAKAKATULONG NINYO SA PAGBIBIGAY NG MAGANDANG BUKAS SA MGA KA-AGRI NATING MAY KAPANSANAN.
VO: THE STORY OF STRONGWILL AND THE RISE OF MANG CAMILO FROM THE TRAGEDY AND POVERTY IN LIFE IS TRULY REMARKABLE AND AMAZING. WE HOPE THAT YOU COULD HELP AND INSPIRE MORE PEOPLE AND WILL BE WORKING WITH YOU HAND-IN-HAND IN GIVING A BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR OUR KA-AGRI WITH DISABILITIES.


HYPE NEXT SEGMENT

VO: SUSUNOD!
VO: UP NEXT!
ON CAM RUBEN: ANG HABA NG ATING KWENTUHAN, WALA NAMAN TAYONG NAAANI.
ON CAM RUBEN: WE JUST HAVE OUR LONG CONVERSATION, WE HAVEN’T HARVESTED ANYTHING YET.
ON CAM CAMILO: PURO KWENTO LANG ATIN.
ON CAM CAMILO: WE ONLY TALK AND TALK.
VO: SA PAGBABALIK YAN NG AGRI TAYO DITO!
VO: WHEN AGRI TAYO DITO RETURNS!


END OF BODY 3

BODY 4 (TRT – 6:01)

AGREALITY SEGMENT

VO: AT KANINA NGA AY NAKILALA NATIN SI MANG CAMILO AT NATUNGHAYAN NATIN ANG KWENTO NG PAGBUO NIYA NGA BAGONG BUKAS PARA SA KANYANG KASAMAHANG MAY KAPANSANAN. NGAYON NAMAN,

2015 BEST AGRICULTURE RADIO PROGRAM OR SEGMENT

“Square foot urban gardening: Saving space, saving water, saving effort, saving earth"
Ronde Alicaya
DXCC RMN, Cagayan de Oro



In everyday endeavor people need food.

Food is our body's fuel in order to accomplish tasks regardless of how small or big that task or project may be. But food is limited, and the situation may even aggravate for some issues, like the diminishing number of farmers, insufficiency of space for planting—especially in urban areas, lack of water supply and climate change.

Nowadays, most of the people who are living in urban areas are dependent on farm produce from upland agriculture, while other supplies are imported from other countries. As a result, the consumers become hostage to price fluctuation.

The good news is, there is farming system which can be done any time anywhere because it needs not wait for a planting season. Maybe people are now aware about urban agriculture and urban gardening. However, have they ever heard of "Square Foot Urban Gardening"?

AUDIO CLIP (Honorio Cervantes: "The Kangkong takes only 18 days to plant, and you can harvest it. In squarefoot gardening, in a single squarefoot, 36 'tudling' can be produced and one can harvest more than 500mgs of it, in 18 days. You see? It's easy".)

The squarefoot gardening is a farming system which was introduced not by an agriculturist but by an American civil engineer named Engr. Mel Bartolomew.

According to Engr. Bartolomew, he made squarefoot gardening system because of what he observed as wrong and wasteful system of farming and laborious way or method of farming.

AUDIO CLIP (Engr. Mel Bartolomew: "Now, this system is a very condensed, natural organic method. In fact, you can grow 100 percent of the harvest compared to regular single row gardening with only 50 percent of the cost, and 20 percent of the space, and then 10 percent of the water, and five percent of the seeds, and only two percent of the work. It's all that easy".)

Squarefoot gardening system has been here for a long time in America and other third world countries. In fact, they have now a worldwide foundation called Square Foot Gardening Foundation.

In the Philippines on the other hand, the adaptation was only recently and only a few individuals are practicing it even though the system is highly adaptable for urban dwellers.

One of the few who adapted the system is the 65 years old Cagayanon, a former Philippine Constabulary Colonel and an incumbent Councilor of Brgy. Pagatpat in Cagayan de Oro City in the person of Honorio Cervantes.

AUDIO CLIP (Honorio Cervantes: "When I started this last year, April 2014, I saw that I can share the system to my fellow farmers in Brgy. Pagatpat. I shared it to them that I have an advocacy in terms of a project that in my mind, I believe could held put food to the table of a family. Also, I notice that there is a lack of focus on the farming system that uses only a little space. Imagine, in a space of only three (3) or 4 by 4 squarefoot gardening, one can already produce vegetables instantly, if one chooses the right plant for the squarefoot gardening".)

When asked whether he has some worries or is there something that inspire or urged him to advocate organic farming through squarefoot gardening, Cervantes said...

AUDIO CLIP (Honorio Cervantes: "If you look at the statistics now of the profile of our farmers, you will be alarmed. You will wonder because the profile of our farmers now are 54 years old and above. It is quite alarming; there is no more next generation of farmers. So, what shall we do? How should we address this since our younger generation are hooked to the internet, vices and nobody focuses on gardening anymore?").

Honorio Cervantes is now active on propagating to the public the squarefoot urban gardening system which he adapted from Mel Bartolomew. And to attest to Filipinos ingenuity in innovating things, he put in some innovations to the system so it would suit to Philippine setting. According to Cervantes, because of what he saw as the potential of squarefoot gardening, he now make it as a personal advocacy by teaching the technology to organizations and students, for free.

AUDIO CLIP (Honorio Cervantes: "I saw that one of the contributing factors on food sufficiency for the family is planting vegetables like, pinakbit, sinigang, etc that can be adapted in lowland agriculture. We are here in urban area so we have to plant vegetables that can be planted in lowland. Now, we also have climate change, that's a huge problem. How would we able to protect ourselves? And, one of my focuses also is the implementation of the Organic Act, agriculture in organic way to avoid eating food with pesticide").

Maybe some people are thinking now how good this technology really is and how big its impact to the country? However, In order to appreciate more about the technology, one should take a look at what problems the country is now facing?

First, the Philippines is now facing the problem of diminishing number of next generation of farmers and fishermen who would produce food for the rest of us. Based on the data presented by the Department of Agriculture during the senate budget hearing in 2012, the average age of farmers and fishermen is 57 years old. Meaning, few years from now we might have a worst food deficiency problem.

Second, starting next month, it is expected that El Ñino phenomenon will hit the entire world. According to experts abroad, this El Ñino phenomenon is worse compared to 1983 and 1997 El Ñino. And it might last a long time, that's why they called it a "Godzilla El Ñino".

This crisis is also expected by our local weather experts in Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration (PAG-ASA). According to PAG-ASA Weather Specialist Luz Mercado of El Salvador City, Misamis Oriental...

AUDIO CLIP (Luz Mercado, weather specialist, PAG-ASA: "El Ñino is global phenomenon. Since last quarter last year—October last year, we already have signs of weak El Ñino and until now, even though we have some rains the phenomenon is still here. Currently, it is forecasted moderate, and for the last quarter of this year and until the first quarter next year, it was forecasted strong. The effect of the El Ñino until next year is strong then it would terminate by May 2016. So, we advise our farmers these days not to plant indiscriminately but to choose crops that are drought resistant, like root crops. So, expected or forecasted that the effect of this El Ñino phenomenon will be as strong as the 1983 and 1997 El Ñino, respectively".)

And since we might experience water supply deficiency, we have to conserve it.

Now the question is what the people can do specially those who are urban settlers with limited space, limited time—because they have to work hard due to higher prices of commodities? Even water is also a problem here because aside from the lack of supply, it is also expensive.

According to Honorio Cervantes, squarefoot urban gardening can possibly answer the food sufficiency problem. Aside from that, it is proven an answer to laborious work in doing a single-row gardening because, first, it could be done easily with less time on land preparation. In fact, the land preparation can be done only in an hour. Also, it can be put beside the house, on the roof, on the backyard or from the ground up through vertical expansion. Or, indoor planting as long as it has fluorescent for lighting. Meaning it can be planted indoor or outdoor in residential areas and schools.

Third, this system and its design of gardening can be done by anybody, old young and even by persons with disabilities (PWDs).

AUDIO CLIP (Author: "Okay, let's say I have a box or a squarefoot space, can it be expanded into five or 10 storey?").

AUDIO CLIP (Honorio Cervantes: "Yes. As long as you put a "drift irrigation", you put a hose and empty bottle of mineral water, to feed water evenly").

AUDIO CLIP (Honorio Cervantes: "The secret on squarefoot gardening is soil. It has three components: light, soil, and water").

AUDIO CLIP (Author: So, your squarefoot gardening system now is already a mixture of foreign technology and your ingenuity?").

AUDIO CLIP (Honorio Cervantes: "Yes. It's like my guide and I add some innovations to it because, of course, what was taught here was an American style, they have their own mixture. They have three mixings there; they have vermiculite, peat moss and compost (Mel’s Mix, derived from Engr. Mel Bartolomew’s name). I did not follow it. For the soil mix (he called it "Cervantes’ Mix"), I use animals manure. I have cow's manure, goat manure, vermicast from chicken dung. Then, I use lime which was washed out during typhoon Sendong, sand and gravel, and bamboo charcoal").

For now Honorio Cervantes have given free trainings about the technology to students in region 10 and Luzon, organizations, foundations and schools here and abroad like the Land Care University of Australia. All this can be found in his logbook at his office in Brgy. Pagatpat, Cagayan de Oro City inside his garden. A garden wherein a hidden fishpond is underneath which can be seen through a bamboo opening on the floor.

AUDIO CLIP (Author: "Your area here is 300 square meters, right? How many varieties have you planted here—aside from the tilapia under our feet?").

AUDIO CILP (Honorio Cervantes: "I have here 22 varieties all in all, vegetables and root crops. And this is only basic").

CLIP (Author: "We all know that every now and then prices of basic commodities fluctuates, like prices of vegetable. In some instances the increase in prices is artificial because of some alleged hording. But, most often than not, the adjustment of prices is up. What squarefoot gardening can do to combat this concern?").

AUDIO CLIP (Honorio Cervantes: "My answer to that is very simple, it's really simple: do it in squarefoot gardening so that you will not buy from the market anymore. Self-reliance, self sufficiency. You should start from your own. If everybody in the house plant vegetables, what would a family will be needing for?

For now, Honorio Cervantes plan is to continue spreading the information regarding squarefoot urban gardening system. This even, according to him, the government lacks support for this kind of project.

AUDIO CLIP (Honorio Cervantes: "When I studied about doing an all-organic seedling, I think it's difficult as of this time. So, we have instead semi-organic seedling because what we got now for organic farming is 30-70 or 50-50 combination. We cannot implement immediately a sudden change to all-organic to those who are using fertilizer but to nudge them little by little. I get my seed from local seed company. However, some local seedling grows improperly. We have supplies from the government but, sometimes it's also problematic. We cannot really blame the government entirely but maybe in the process of procurement and transportation because sometimes the seedlings do not grow").

In retrospect, in 2011, Senate Bill No. 2095 or Urban Agriculture and Vertical Farming Act were pushed. Also, in 2013, a similar Bill, House Bill No. 720 or the Urban Agriculture Act of 2013 was filed, purposely to address the food sufficiency concern in the country. However, until now the two House Bills was not enacted into law.

AUDIO CLIP (Honorio Cervantes: "In my age, I am already a senior citizen. For me these days, my concern is to focus on my advocacy, that I can share the method on saving spaces, to enable the people to plant right to reduce their problems, like; land preparation, pest control management. And we still have to face the climate change which is unpredictable. This (squarefoot urban gardening) is our defense. Squarefoot Urban Gardening is one of the methods in agriculture that can be done even in almost no space. It can be done in subdivisions, resettlements, and even in high-rise building. This is what we need so we can eat").

AUDIO CLIP (Honorio Cervantes: "My intention here is to impart to the public what I introduced to them and for them to realize its advantage. I don't want anything but to give free training, as long as I can").

Before he gives me a nod for an interview, Honorio Cervantes really made sure that the interview will be in his garden. "To see is to believe" is what he told me, and he proudly flaunts his entire place the entire course of my visit.

Finally, my on-site interview to Honorio Cervantes will not be complete if I cannot taste also his produce. Luckily, he joyfully offered a bunch of Chinese Kankong, Okra, and Kundol, fresh from the garden.

For the special report, Ronde Alicaya, Tatak RMN.

2015 BEST AGRICULTURE NEWS STORY, NATIONAL

“Kalinga rice farmers see better days with hybrid rice variety”
Rizaldy Comanda
Manila Bulletin



TABUK CITY, Kalinga – The city government here wants farmers to earn more by improving their rice production through the hybrid rice varieties which the local government unit ( LGU) and the Department of Agriculture (DA) are pushing starting this planting season.

An aggressive effort is being done by the City Agriculture Office (CAO) to better the rice production sector by extending help, which made the city a Hall of Famer in the Agri-Pinoy Rice Achievers award from 2011 to 2013.

Julibert Aquino, assistant city agriculturist, said they are encouraging the farmers to shift to planting the hybrid rice variety, which has higher yield than the inbreed, which is presently being planted in higher quantity. Tabukeños prefer the inbreed, he said, because it tastes better.The downside, however, is the higher selling price because the rice recovery is lower.



By the numbers

In a one hectare rice farm area planted with 5,000 seeds of the hybrid variety, the yield is 200 cavans of palay compared. When planted with the same number of seedlings of inbreed, the production is only 150 cavans.

Aquino said the May and November harvest seasons in 2014 have good yield with the inbreed rice giving 6.5 metric tons and the hybrid rice, 8.25 metric tons.

These numbers are better but he said that the city hopes to further improve the city’s production and also increase the farmer’s income from hybrid rice.

Farmers will surely have higher yield and better income with the hybrid producing 25 percent more than the produce of the inbreed, he said.

“Malaki ang kalamangan at kikitain ng mga magsasaka kung hybrid rice ang kanilang itatanim kumpara sa inbreed. Sa isang ektakyang bukid kapag itinanim mo ang 5,000 seeds na hybrid ay mahigit sa 200 cavan ng palay ang maaani,samantalang sa inbreed ay 150 kaban ng palay lamang ang maaani, kaya malaki ang deperensya at kung sa quality ay pareho lamang.” ( More can be harvested by rice farmers from hybrid rice variety which produces 200 cavans of rice grains from 500 rice seeds planted while the inbreed variety only gives 150 cavans – a big difference in quantity.)



Tasty hybrid

He said, there is a hybrid rice variety which now has the same quality and taste as the inbreed variety.

Kalinga is known for the “Tabuk” rice – a variety which is extraordinarily tasty compared with any other rice varieties whether local or imported, a trademark which this city continues to produce up to the present.

Whether inbreed or the tabuk rice, both are more expensive than other rice varieties, which the CAO is attempting to address – by producing the hybrid rice which has the same quality as the inbreed but lower in cost and produces more rice per hectare.

Inbreed variety has five kinds, with the most expensive being the NSICRC-218 or what is being referred to as the double diamond. “This is the one which is highly demanded by traders but we also want the farmers to earn more while we help attain the rice sufficiency requirement of the country,” Aquino said.



For a higher yield

Tabuk City is the rice granary of the Cordillera. There is a total of 10,417 hectares of irrigated rice farms; 1,350 hectares of non-irrigated farms; and 1,089 hectares located at the upland areas devoted for organic rice production.

The primary source of income of the residents is rice farming with a total of 7,120 farmers engaging in the activity. There are 31 barangay which are into rice production while the remaining 11 barangay are devoted for the production of other agricultural products like livestock.

Aquino said the DA’s program on High Yielding Technology Adoption is a big boost to the farmers in the city.

At present, a partnership between the city and the DA involving a 200 hectare demo rice farm planted with hybrid rice seedlings which will be distributed for planting in five hectares each of farmers, to attain the goal of increasing yield and income

The partnership, allows them to shoulder half of the P7,500 accompanied with two bags of fertilizer which farmers spend to start a hybrid rice production. The sharing scheme is to allow the partnership to have remaining fund which will be used for the next planting season, which other farmers can avail of – thereby increasing the number of farmers planting the hybrid rice.

Aquino reported that as programs and interventions are being done to improve commercial rice production, Aquino reported that Tabuk’s organic rice production in the upland areas also increased.

The “Unoy” is one of the most expensive native organic rice in the Cordillera, with most of the yield intended for personal consumption of the family, making it difficult to find in the market.

Unoy is being sold at a minimum of P80 a kilo in the local market if found while there are also some who collate it with the DA’s colored and organic rice production which are exported abroad.

2015 BEST AGRICULTURE NEWS STORY, REGIONAL

“Baguio encouraged to look at bamboo’s several potentials”
Hanna Lacsamana
Baguio Midland Courier



From how it is described and explained in information campaign sorties in the city, bamboo is coming off as a wonder grass and is seen as the next timber of the 21st century, crucial in assuring food sufficiency and an effective disaster mitigating tool.

Baguio City stakeholders are being tapped to consider bamboo as a main tool in reinventing its livelihood, aesthetic, agriculture, environment, and disaster preparedness and mitigation efforts and policies.

In its continuous information campaign about the benefits of propagating bamboo in the city, the Philippine Bamboo Foundation expressed appreciation as some groups and city officials are finally starting to recognize the advantages of bamboo.

PBF President Edgardo Manda and Councilor Leandro Yangot on Wednesday said the PBF and the city government will create a technical working group that will lead in the establishment of a framework that will explore how bamboo could figure in the city’s development.

Manda said they are keen on discussing such concept in the city to convince its constituents to recognize the suitability of Baguio’s topography for bamboo propagation, so eventually these can be used in stepping up the barangays’ livelihood and the city’s re-greening and disaster management efforts.

Based on PBF’s exploration and researches, Manda said Baguio’s weather and environment are suitable for many species of bamboo, a kind of grass that is easy to grow and could produce useful and better quality timber.

“We foresee bamboo as the next timber as we no longer have trees to use due to the total log ban policy and the National Greening Program of the government. All our logs are now either imported or smuggled. Most, mainly the manufacturers and exporters of products with wood component, are in panic because of shortage of wood for their products,” he said.

But with bamboo, and if more would be involved in its production, engineered bamboo can be produced and used in place of the usual timber from trees.

In terms of agriculture, Manda said bamboo is a food source for its shoots, locally known as rabong, the consumption of which brings an equivalent of P15 billion for bamboo propagators in China, where it is widely produced and used.

Manda said bamboo leaves’ extracts, as well, can be used as raw material in making wines, beer, soaps and other beauty products in China.

Yangot said the creation of the TWG for bamboo is an acknowledgment of its potentials, which have long been ignored.

He said it may help the city’s barangays and indigenous communities have a profitable source of livelihood supplying the needs of local and international markets.

Bamboo is also seen an effective disaster mitigating tool for areas like Baguio that is prone to landslides and erosion.

“They have shown us several areas where they use bamboo to control erosion. Probably we can replicate it in Baguio,” he said.

Yangot, who chairs the city council’s committee on lands, said many open spaces in the city, instead of being squatted on, could be transformed into bamboo forests and help in beautification efforts and clearing the city’s air of poisonous gases.

“I believe this is one way of regenerating Baguio, which has not introduced something new lately. For a change, let us put greenery along the routes toward the city instead of buildings and structures,” he said.

2015 BEST AGRICULTURE FEATURE STORY, NATIONAL

“Saving rice varieties: One grain at a time”
Anselmo Roque
Philippine Daily Inquirer



Crisis or not, the supply of locally grown rice is constantly threatened by erratic weather, land conversion and even people’s changing diet.

But at the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) in Nueva Ecija province, scientists are working day and night to save the Filipinos’ staple, one grain at a time.

PhilRice’s seed bank holds the key in ensuring that the country’s traditional rice varieties, even those that local farmers are not using anymore, will feed generations.

“These should be conserved as these are not only important as the building blocks in breeding new varieties, but these are part of our national heritage as well,” says Dr. Eufemio Rasco Jr., PhilRice executive director.

Rasco says some rice varieties, especially those used several centuries ago, may have been lost forever. “But out there in some of the country’s 7,100 islands, there may still be real treasures, in the form of traditional varieties not yet conserved,” he says.

Our ancestors ate root crops, Rasco says, but early migrants brought rice to the country, eventually becoming the local staple.

According to PhilRice, modern rice varieties came from the wild grains that grew in the extinct super continent called “Gondwanaland” (land masses in today’s southern hemisphere) that drifted apart to become Asia, Africa, Australia and Antartica.

It was China that started domesticating rice by developing a process of cultivating the soil and refining the system of transplanting it, PhilRice says.

Archaeologists, it says, found evidence of the use of wild and cultivated rice around 3,200 B.C. in the Andarayan plain in Cagayan province.

PhilRice says that people in the country at that time were “in a state of settled society and no longer moving around in groups to hunt, gather berries and leaves.”

Also, the ancestors of the Ifugao people built the rice terraces in the Cordillera mountain ranges to cultivate upland rice. Until now, PhilRice says, farmers in Ifugao province are planting “heirloom rice” in those terraced farms.

Rasco says it was in the 1900s that efforts to collect rice seeds for conservation started. Rice breeders from the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) and the College of Agriculture of the University of the Philippines at Los Baños in Laguna province, he says, helped in efforts to preserve the country’s rice varieties.

In the early 1960s, separate collections were consolidated by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in its facility in Los Baños. Through this, local rice seeds and those grown in other countries were deposited in the agency’s seed bank.



Seed collection

IRRI keeps a seed collection representing about a fifth of the world’s 500,000 rice varieties.

In 1985, PhilRice put up its own seed bank, the PhilRice Genebank, composed of the duplicated seeds of Philippine rice varieties at IRRI and from its own efforts in collecting them.

“We are doing our best efforts in conserving them. But these can only last for as long as funding continues because maintaining these seeds is very, very expensive,” Rasco says.

Loida Moreno-Perez, chief of PhilRice’s genetic resources division, says the agency has 7,129 “accessioned” rice varieties or those that have been fully documented and packaged.

Her division takes care of the germplasm management, conservation, distribution and use of the conserved varieties. Germplasm is a collection of genetic resources for an organism. For plants, the germplasm may be stored as a seed collection.

Accessioned varieties, Perez says, have “passport” data (background information, history, and cultural and conservation processes), samples of seeds and images of in situ (in site) cultivation. More than 13,000 varieties in PhilRice’s collection have yet to undergo accessioning, she says.

The accessioned seeds in packets of 50 grams and 200 grams, which include foreign rice varieties, are kept in storage rooms. The 50-gram packets are stored in freezers (at negative 18 degrees Celsius) for long-term conservation while the 200-gram seeds are for short-term conservation and kept in a temperature of 10 to 11 degrees Celsius.

“The short-term conserved seeds are distributed, on request, to researchers and students. They are given 10 grams of the samples per request,” she says.



Rejuvenated

She says the seeds intended for distribution are “rejuvenated,” or grown and stored again every five years.

Perez says PhilRice needs a better facility to keep the growing number of seeds. “More samples are coming in through our collectors, farmers and others who are donating them for our conservation efforts,” she says.

Rasco gives assurance that PhilRice is planning to improve the gene bank through funds that would be generated by a foundation.

“As a breeder, I know the importance of these rice seeds. They are the raw materials for breeding new rice varieties…. They are survivors of stresses, pests and diseases that is why they are our wealth,” he says.



In the know: All about rice

Rice varieties are classified based on the size of grains (long, medium and short) and on agro-ecological zones where they are grown (lowland irrigated, lowland rainfed, saline prone, cool elevated, and upland, among others).

They are called either traditional, modern (also called high-yielding) or hybrid. The traditional and modern varieties are “inbred” rice, reproduced through selfpollination (inbreeding) and their seeds used for planting.

The traditional varieties are tall, lodge easily, photoperiodic (need specific amount of sunlight) and take five to six months to mature. Modern varieties are semi-dwarf, nonphotoperiodic and mature in four months or less.

Hybrid rice varieties, on the other hand, are products of crossing two genetically different parents with superior qualities. These qualities are passed on to the seeds and result in “heterosis” or hybrid vigor. New seeds developed from parent-plants (called “Mr. and Mrs.” by hybrid rice seed farmers), however, are needed for planting.

Some of the traditional varieties that have become popular in the local market were Raminad, Elon-elon, Wagwag, Milagrosa, Peta, Kinandang Pula, Macan, Azucena, Apostol, Pinursige, Initintiw and Dinorado.

The modern rice varieties include Tubigan 1, Mabango, Angelica, Submarino 1, Matatag, Salinas, Sahod-ulan and Malagkit, among others. These carry the
identification “NSIC Rc (number),” which indicates their release by the National Seed and Industry Council, formerly Philippine Seed Board, which approves and registers crop varieties.

Forty-four hybrid rice varieties have been released in the market. The earliest were Magat, Panay and Mestiso, while the more recent carry the name “Mestiso” followed by a number.

There are also called “heirloom rice plants” grown in the Cordillerra region. Some of these are Mina-angan, Hungduan, Ulikan, Jekot, Dikit, Tinawon, Unoy and Kintoman.

Some of the popular traditional rice varieties in Mindanao are Domodaw, Speaker, Cabuyoc, Azucena, Perya, Magpongpong, Libo-Libo, Ilaynon, Pinili, Mamintana, Sinamao, Dinorado and Katibon White.

Companies and rice breeders, including farmers who produce their own rice variety through selection and repeated planting, give particular names to their varieties.

Government agencies estimate that the Philippines has 10,000-15,000 rice varieties.