Farmer by Farmer, an Organic Transition

[marmar]

from YES! Magazine:




Farmer by Farmer, an Organic Transition
After decades of chemicals, farmers in the Philippines are seeing the benefits of organic farming. But what convinced them to make the switch in the first place?

by John Cavanagh, Robin Broad
posted Jan 31, 2011


We spend an afternoon with Gil and Teresa, who have farmed one and a quarter hectares of non-irrigated land in the southern Philippines since 1973. We walk into their land through a line of young trees, past a row of pineapples, and over a narrow patch of rice. Chickens wander the yard with chaotic authority. We sit on a bench in their front yard, shaded by an impressive diversity of fruit trees: mango, pomelo, and others.

Rice farmers, we discover, are like the rest of us in that they do not like to change their ways unless they are convinced that change will bring tangible benefits. Several families of rice farmers in three Philippine provinces showed us clear evidence that organic rice was better than rice grown with chemical inputs in reducing costs, in improving the health of the farmer and consumer, and in preserving the soil, water, and environment.

But, we wanted to know, what triggered farmers to make the switch from decades of chemical farming to a more “rooted” organic agriculture?

Gil starts their story, with Teresa standing quietly by his side. They farmed with chemicals for over a quarter century until 1999, when Gil, tired of being in debt, went to a training by the Don Bosco Foundation on sustainable agriculture. “I was sick of the loans and the high costs of conventional farming.” .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.yesmagazine.org/blogs/john-cavanagh-and-robin-broad/buying-only-2-percent-of-what-you-eat

[formercia]

1. Great article.

With chemicals, one just swaps one parasite for another.

[WhiteTara]

2. while killing the host. n/t

[midnight]

3. K&R.

[xchrom]

4. bios dynamis is -- i think -- the official home

of the don bosco foundation.

http://www.bios-dynamis.org/

The project in mind was the development of a demonstration farm on organic farming where both production and research can be done on organic farming gradually developing the skills, capacity and confidence to do extension work among young farmers. The first demonstration and food production farm was established in Batasan, Makilala, Cotabato, a 2.4 hectare land donated by Betsy's family to the Diocese of Kidapawan in 1977. The farm was started in 1988 via volunteer work of the youth and a PhP 50,000.00 seed money from the Diocese of Kidapawan. In 1990 it received assistance from HEKS of Switzerland and in 1992 it was assisted by MISEREOR of Germany. A second demonstration farm in Amas, Kidapawan City was developed in 1993 with support from Conferenza Episcopale Italiana. The farm is on a 5.6 hectare land donated to the Diocese of Kidapawan by Ms. Demetria Ferrer.