Municipal Agricultural and Fishery Council (MAFC)
of Sipocot, Camarines Sur
OUTSTANDING MAFC

The Municipal Agricultural & Fishery Council (MAFC) of Sipocot, Camarines Sur, a National Gawad Saka Achiever in 2005 has sustained its strong and enduring collaboration and partnership with the Local Government Unit and Other agri-fishery stakeholders in planning, implementing, promoting and monitoring agriculture and environmental projects and has evolved into one of the most credible and dynamic councils in the region.

Since its organization in March 17, 1987, the council has ably carried out its mandate and functions down the barangay levels through the support and encouragement of Local Chief Executives, Committee Chairs on Agriculture and Environment and Barangay Officials who are always supportive of any undertakings in their localities such as conduct and hosting of mobile meetings and consultations, animal disease prevention and control, Carabao Upgrading Program, monitoring of production of crops, occurrence of pests and diseases and timely reporting of damages brought by natural calamities, data gathering, profiling and conduct of animal population survey, mangrove reforestation, tree planting and the like. The council draws its strength from its diverse membership and active BAFC volunteer leaders ably assisting and acting as deputized technicians of the municipal agriculture office faced with the daunting task of helping alleviate poverty, mitigating hunger and ensuring food sufficiency in their community.

The council is composed of fifty (50) private sector volunteers, sixteen (16) government sector representatives and fifteen (15) Barangay Kagawad Chairs on Agriculture serving as honorary members. The council conducts regular monthly meetings, two of which are held in their center and the ten (10) are on-mobile in barangays. One noteworthy activity during mobile meetings is the conduct of tree planting with members bringing along with them planting materials, their share in the environmental protection. The forty-four (44) barangays out of forty-six (46) BAFCs are fully operational and receiving funding support for their mobilization activities. Majority of the BAFC Chairs are at the same time elected thus paving the way for synchronized concerted activities. Monthly reporting of issues and concerns is being done during MAFC meetings for immediate resolutions or referral to higher authorities.

Notable of the numerous accomplishments as a consultative, integrative, coordinative, advocacy, advisory, monitoring and evaluating body, MAFC Sipocot has been able to do the following:

As an advisory and monitoring body, the council advocated for stricter ordinance in curbing illegal logging, construction of water supply system in Barangay Malaguico, maintenance and protection of mahogany and mangrove reforestation and production of native chicken identified as the One Town One Province (OTOP) of their municipality.

The council was also adjudged as one of the most Outstanding Sipocoteños Award for Social/Civic Group sector on July 3, 2009 during the 208th foundation anniversary of the municipality for its exemplary role as integrator, initiator and collaborator of the LGU in sustaining crop protection program, upgrading of local livestock industry and institutionalizing of Coastal Resource Management.

MAFC Sipocot has made its presence felt as a council not limited to agricultural and economic undertakings but one with a social conscience having imbibed the spirit of intergenerational responsibility not only serving its present members but taking the cudgels for the future generation who will certainly reap the fruits of its worthwhile endeavors. Changes in leadership did not affect the council because members remain committed to share their time, talent and treasure to be of service to their municipality.

BFT - Gawad Kalinga Cabusao Multipurpose Cooperative
Cabusao, Camarines Sur
OUTSTANDING BFT

PROFILE OF THE BFT

Gawad Kalinga San Rafael, Cabusao came to know of the Barangay Food Terminal (BFT) project of the Department of Agriculture in 2007 from LGU Agricultural Workers in their municipality. Seizing the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of ready food access and additional income/job generation for their community, their leaders were determined to be a recipient of the project.

However, they were earlier made to realize that in order to avail of the BFT, they need to have a legal personality to enable them to enter into contract with any formal entity such as the DA. Such preliminary challenge was hurdled by wielding their unwavering determination to focus their efforts on a nobler purpose. Despite having members and officers composed mainly of GK indigent recipients, the leaders of the community started to build a cooperative from scratch, helping each other in raising the required paid-up capital, with only 27 initial members including officers. Finally on June 10, 2008 under CDA Registration No. NG-4117, GK Cabusao Multipurpose Cooperative was born.

DESCRIPTION OF BFT OPERATION

GK Cabusao MPC now has 30 members and is presently operating the BFT Project which helps sustain approximately 82 households within a 1.6 hectares GK land area from MLGU Cabusao. The BFT now serves not only the GK community but the nearby parish-managed Dusayan Village with 180 households and the more than 100 households in Brgy. San Rafael. Starting their maiden operation with Php 75,000 grant from the congressional fund of Congressman Dato Arroyo, Php 50,000 capital assistance (in the form of NFA Rice) from DA and Php 7,500 paid-up capital of coop-members they steered their BFT into a profitable enterprise guided by a sound and effective management strategy.

The management team banks on the principle that sincere intentions and transparency in financial transactions are necessary to illicit trust and cooperation among members. After two years of operation, their BFT is now a promising enterprise with an average daily sales of Php8,000 and an ROI of 36% in 2010. In strictly business and financial points of view, this ROI still has to be stretched, sustained and further increased to maintain a highly profitable business but more than this, the BFT accorded the community with far-reaching economic and social benefits tangible enough to be appreciated and accounted by the recipients. Economically, because of the presence of BFT San Rafael, the Gawad Kalinga, Dusayan Village and Brgy. San Rafael residents are now provided with ready access to quality and nutritious food without having to spend additional time and at least Php 40.00 in transportation cost just to reach Libmanan Municipal Market about 7 kilometers away from the Municipality of Cabusao. Further, the selling price of agri-commodities sold in the BFT is Php 2.00-5.00 lower than that offered in the local market making a positive dent in the daily food expense of the households in the area. A large number of Gawad Kalinga and Brgy. San Rafael residents are fisherfolk engaged both in selling fresh fish and drying marine products while some are maintaining backyard vegetable gardens harvests from these are being sold to the BFT giving them alternative market for their produce. BFT GK San Rafael is also able to employ two (2) storekeepers with monthly salary of Php1,700.00 each working on a shifting scheme to man the daily 8-10 hours operation of the BFT.

Having achieved the specific goal and purpose of the BFT Project for more than 2 years of operation, the management team and the officers and members of the GK Cabusao MPC did not rest on their achievements and instead gave attention to the immediate needs of their community. They were able to judicially utilize the profit/proceeds of the BFT in significant causes such as regularly paying for the Php1,000 monthly salary of the teacher in the SIBOL Day-Care center in GK San Rafael, construction of the open-seminar hall and acquisition of various appliances and fixtures amounting to at least Php20,000, concrete fencing of the GK façade amounting to Php25,000 and an immediate medical and burial assistance of Php500.00 per member. Their cooperative also provides funding assistance for sponsorship of livelihood and capability building seminars, provision of meals for volunteer activities and for the procurement of vegetable seeds for the community's backyard gardens. These minor projects were carefully planned and consulted to officers and members of the cooperative prior to approval and execution and prioritized in such a way that maximum benefits will be shared to members and the entire GK community.
All these socio-economic benefits will not redound to the community if not for the sound management strategies being applied by the BFT Management Team and Cooperative officials. They are steadfast in adopting the "no credit" policy both in the purchasing and selling of commodities in the BFT for them to maintain a fixed monthly operating capital of at least Php90,000 to cover the purchase of agri-fishery and poultry commodities, NFA Rice, groceries, payment of electric and water bills and miscellaneous expenses. They were able to accurately monitor, establish sales trends, estimate product movements and trace the cause of discrepancies in income versus expense through religious daily recording and data reconciliation.

Recognizing the necessity to sustain their BFT and cooperative and persist in benefitting from its substantial returns for the benefit of the community, GK Cabusao MPC is continuously taking small but sure steps towards the expansion of their BFT operation to include acquisition of service vehicle to enable bulk trading/marketing of their surplus commodities such as dried and fresh marine products with other BFTs and municipal markets, engage in value-adding and processing of fish products and increasing the commodities sold in their BFTs to accommodate those demanded by the consumers in the locality in the absence of a municipal market. The cooperative also engaged in Mudcrab Fattening on Pond Project with the Municipal LGU of Cabusao and is in the preliminary establishment of Saline Fish Production to increase livelihood opportunities for the residents of the GK.

In its entirety, BFT Cabusao is a testament of how a single noble objective of ensuring access to quality and affordable food through the BFT can achieve ripples of multiple benefits in the far-flung farming and fishing communities in the municipality. Their simple formula of hardwork, genuine concern for the brethren coupled with trust in the benevolence and greatness of our Creator proved to be effective in achieving enduring accomplishments, promising better rewards in years to come.

Bernadette delos Santos
Sta. Teresita, Baao Camarines Sur
OUTSTANDING AGRI ENTREPRENEUR

Bernadette De Los Santos comes from the rural barangay of Sta. Teresita in Baao, Camarines Sur. She the second of three children. Orphaned by her father at the very young age of 12, her mother single-handedly sent the three children to college. Her early experiences of farming were mostly going to their family-owned rice fields with her father, during harvest season. Among the three children, she showed the greatest interest in agriculture. But her mother enrolled her at the Ateneo de Manila University, where she earned her B.S. in Business Management diploma, and enjoyed full scholarship from the COCOFED.

After college, Bernadette pursued a career in the corporate world and worked for a multi-national pharmaceutical company. This job allowed her to travel the Philippine islands. After years travelling the entire country, she decided she wanted to work abroad, so she flew to London, UK, to work as the Head Cashier of a shipping company. This job enabled her to tour Europe. She then flew to Singapore for a better-paying job, and worked in a cruise ship as the company's chief cashier. This exposed her to the different cultures of Asia. When she started to paint as her hobby, she was invited to hold an exhibit in California, USA, and opened another door to her travelling spirit. Here she stayed and worked and finally, in 2004, when her mother passed away, she made the conscious decision to resettle back in Baao and make her mark on this earth.

In 2004, she began her crusade of establishing her dream farm. Starting with a meagre capital and a small area, she worked her way to her eden, which she named after her mother, who to her, is the gardener in her garden of dreams - La Huerta de Rosario, which when translated from the Spanish language to the English language, means, The Garden of Rosario.

La Huerta de Rosario started as an ornamentals nursery. In its ongoing evolution, in 2005, it has turned into a vegetable farm, where Bernadette grows off-season vegetables and earns profitably. La Huerta not only serves as her personal garden, but in her desire to inspire and invite people to farm again, she opened the farm to guests and in turn, has been the arm of the Department of Agriculture in its campaign on safe and affordable food. Bernadette built her La Huerta fruits and vegetables store in 2008 so that people can buy her produce straight from the farm, ensuring the freshness of the vegetables. With her agri-enterprise, she has created jobs to numerous constituents of her community. In 2009.

Bernadette built a training hall at La Huerta and provided a venue for learning by letting farmers engage in hands-on training at the farm.

In 2010, to augment her farm's productivity, she opened the La Huerta Breakfast Place and started her 'bidibidi' catering business. What separates her menu from those of other caterers, is her use of vegetables freshly picked from her farm.
Today, La Huerta de Rosario is a bustling place of eden, where students, farmers, locals and tourists alike come, visit, enjoy and come again, to experience the joy of a harvest, the taste of local cuisine and enjoy the true rural farm ambience, seldom found nowadays. Bernadette, for most part of her journey at La Huerta, has created not just a paradise but a community where values are re-learned, simple skills are re-taught and people are made to look back and remember that what matters more are the simple and basic things in life.

Anthony Suguitao
Aroroy, Masbate
OUTSTANDING YOUNG FARMER

Anthony Suguitao, 24 years old and 4H Club President, hails from Barangay Cabangcalan, the Municipality of Aroroy, Island Province of Masbate. He is the 3rd in a family of 10, 6 boys and 4 girls. At an early age his father has exposed him to the intricacies of farming. His constant exposure to the farming chores has developed in him the love for tending crops and livestock.

Ripe for college, he enrolled in BS Agriculture at DEBESMSCAT, an agriculture college in Masbate. After completing his first year, he quit as his family could no longer afford the cost of his education. He opted to be back in Cabangcalan, rather than find a job in the city.
His lack of academic preparation did not matter to him. He attended trainings and seminars, read agricultural publications, sought technical assistance from the Municipal Agricultural Office. Armed with the know how he ably demonstrated to the youths and the community that farming is a profitable business enterprise and that there are wide opportunities in farming waiting to be nourished and nurtured.

With P500 shelled out by his landlord he planted squash in a half hectare lot. Then he expanded his area to three (3) hectares where he planted assorted vegetables - upo, okra, tomato, hot pepper, watermelon, sitao, eggplant, sitao, and squash. The return on investment is encouraging. Aggregately, he realized an income of 214,063.00 for the years 2008 to 2010. Squash production gave him the highest income of P69,375.00 followed by ampalaya, P49,451.oo then eggplant P18,076.00. From animal production his income was P59,000.00.

Anthony delivers his fresh vegetables to FILMINERA, a mining corporation based at Puro, Aroroy with 2000 workers, Barangay bagsakan in Barangay Lanang, 8 km. away from his farm, Aroroy Pamilihang Bayan, ang five sari-sari stores at Brgy. Cabangcalan. He put up a makeshift stall along the road near his farm to cater to viajeros and walk-in buyers.

Out of the profits he raked in he bought his own working animal, water pump which he rents to other farmers, 2 units motorcycle use as habal-habal. He also invested in swine fattening, goat and native chicken raising and fish vending. His farming enterprises generated employment in the barangay.

As president of the Cabangcalan 4H Club he encouraged the youths to similarly undertake agricultural projects to gain additional income, besides engaging in community activities. It was him who initiated the formation of the club. Anthony is also is an active member of the Farmers Association, BAFC grievance committee of KALAHI CDD LPP Makamasang Tugon, a program of the DSWD. He served as volunteer in the construction of the manpower enhancement center, a venue for farmers training, meeting and similar activities.

In recognition of his efforts and achievements in the promotion of agriculture in the locality and generation of employment in the barangay, he has received awards and commendations such as Outstanding Young Farmer given by PAFC Masbate in 2010, certificate of recognition for giving pride to the barangay being one of the Top Producers of Vegetable in the Municipality of Aroroy presented by the Barangay Council of Cabangcalan in 2009 and Best Vegetable Producer Award given by LGU Aroroy in 2010.

Anthony has proven that with strong determination to succeed and the willingness to learn from experts and adopt modern and environment friendly methods of farming, one can do his share in the enhancement of agriculture and have a better life.

Anthony will continue to be a model among the youths, and a pride of Aroroy.

Esperanza A. Gross
Paraiso, Milagros, Masbate
OUTSTANDING LARGE ANIMAL RAISER

Esperanza A. Gross is not an agriculturist by profession, yet she was able to create her niche in the livestock industry in the island province of Masbate.

She started with 10 heads cattle in a five hectare farm located in Barangay Paraiso, municipality of Milagros. She developed this area fully well banking on her exposures to farms abroad and attendance to trainings and seminars and tutelage of the Department of Agriculture. Sixty five percent of her cattles are American Brahman from Australia.

In 2010, she has 20 heads of cattle, 1 bull, 1 yearling, 9 calves and 5 heads of carabao, 1 yearling, 2 caracalves and 50 fowls. She is also into mango production and palay seed production. She is an advocate of organic farming and use of biocontrol measures to control pests and diseases.

Her farm is equipped with modern corral made of GI pipes with drinking trough, a squeezer to control animals during treatment and artificial insemination, automatic shower for treating external parasites, windmill to supply water for the animals and crops. She has also established pasture grasses.

Care and management of animals is maintained thru regular administration of hemosep vaccination, animal deworming, fecal examination, and vitamin dispensing.

Her cattle and carabao breeding had generated an income of P265,400.00 in 2009 and P457,400.00 in 2010. Income from other agricultural ventures totalled P696,618.00 in 2010. She has put up two hotels - MG and Sea Blick - for additional income.

Her farm enterprises employ 4 regular workers with pay ranging from P2,000 to P4,000 with the benefit of SSS and Philhealth and for extra work they get an additional of P750 per week.

Ms. Gross makes it a point to reach out to the community by way of providing livelihood to her kabarangays. Her swine dispersal has benefited 30 recipients, with the farm workers as the initial recipients. Her regular farm workers are also a recipient of cattle dispersal. Moreover, livelihood projects are given to rural women and education for the youths, thereby strengthening their productive capacity.

Ms. Gross is actively involved in different civic organizations such as treasurer and board of trustees of Rodeo Masbateño Inc.; secretary of Masbate Brahman Breeders Association; Board of Director of Masbate Seedgrowers Association and member of the Cattle Raisers Association of Masbate.

In recognition of the contributions in the improvement of the livestock industry, Ms. Gross was recognized as Magsasaka Siyentista for Livestock of FITS Masbate, a PCARRD, BCCARD, DA LGU, DEBESMCAT project based in Masbate City.

Her able leadership as Punong Barangay of Barangay Paraiso, her notable accomplishments in livestock and crop production, her all-out-effort to reach out to the community providing employment and livelihood, made Esperanza A. Gross an accomplished livestock raiser whose contributions have enhanced the livestock productivity and profitability.