Farmers benefit from new farming method

CEBU - More than 100 farmers in the mountain barangays of Cebu City have benefited from the Farmer-Scientists Research, Development and Extension Training Program, which is aimed at helping poor farmers uplift their situation, increase their income capacity and reduce hunger by planting various crops and livestock in a corn-based farm.

Acting vice mayor Hilario Davide III, who is the committee chairman on agriculture and rural development, said the program is currently implemented by the city and has helped raised the standard of living of the farmer beneficiaries.

Through the various trainings embodied in the program, he said the farmers were able to increase their farm yields and increase their income. He however did not mention any figure.

Farmer-Scientists Research, Development and Extension Training Program is an agricultural strategy that primarily aims to change and improve the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of farmers in a corn-based production system to adopt the scientific methods of farming.

This strategy, according to the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Agricultural Research, was piloted in Argao, Cebu in 1994 under the project title, “Development and Establishment of an Integrated Corn-based Farming System for a Sustainable Agricultural Program, in Northern Argao, Cebu: The Farmer-Scientists Training Program” with funding support from the DA-BAR.

It was Councilor Davide’s uncle, Dr. Romulo G. Davide of the University of the Philippines Los Baños, who led the project which expanded in the provinces of Cebu, Siquijor, Negros Oriental, Leyte, Occidental Mindoro, and Compostela Valley Province.

According to DA-BAR, the project has succeeded beyond expectation demonstrating how small marginalized farmers can be empowered with enough scientific knowledge in farming to produce more than their subsistence level. — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/WAB (THE FREEMAN)