SM FOUNDATION EMPOWERS SMALL SCALE FARMERS

February 25, 2012May 26, 2012 Vic Vizcocho 0 Comments

PHOTO #2 — SM IN FARMING TRAINING PROJECT. The SM Foundation Inc. (SMFI) and Harbest Agribusiness Corporation’s “Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan” (KSK) Farming Training Project started with the ceremonial seeding at Sitio Tralala, Barangay Gordon Heights, a farming site provided by the city government of Olongapo. Photo shows Harbest Agribusiness Corp. manager Arsenio “Toto” Barcelona (2nd from left), SMFI Assistant Vice President Christie Angeles (3rd from left), Olongapo Mayor James “Bong” Gordon Jr. (4th from left) and SBMA Director Anne Marie Gordon (beside Mayor Gordon), together with the local participants, holding up the squash seedlings to signal the start of the season-long training.

The SM Foundation Inc. (SMFI), together with the Harbest Agritech, is implementing a season-long module to train small scale farmers on the commercial production of vegetables in Olongapo City.

Dubbed as ‘Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan’ (KSK), the project aims to empower farmers through the season-long training on improved and doable agricultural technology, conducted by Harbest Agribusiness Corporation in cooperation with the Department of Agrarian Reform, LGUs and NGO’s.

The Olongapo city government provided the project site – a 5,000 square meter area at Barangay Gordon Heights suitable for a vegetable production project for 100 small scale farmers.

Olongapo Mayor James “Bong” Gordon Jr. and First Lady and SBMA Director Anne Gordon attended the ceremonial seeding in support of the SMFI KSK, acknowledging its valuable contribution to the city’s pursuit of sustainable development.

The City Agriculture Office chose the area between Sitios Tralala and Bangka-bangka, Barangay Gordon Heights for its flat, slightly rolling and fertile soil.

The said land has available irrigation water, accessible and is secured. Most of the 100 participants in the KSK Project come from the Aeta community of Olongapo.

“Siguradong malaking tulong ito sa mga kapatid nating kulot (a popular local term for Aeta), lalo na kapag napaunlad na nila ito, at maging sa buong komunidad pag nagawa nilang matatag na source of food at income ang proyektong ito ng SMFI para sa lungsod,” Mayor Gordon said.

Ten agriculturists from Olongapo and surrounding LGUs will join the farmer-participants in the twelve weekly sessions of farming training.

SMFI and Harbest Agritech have jointly implemented KSK Projects all over the Philippines for the past four and a half years and Olongapo City is their 40th enactment.

Arsenio “Toto” Barcelona of Harbest Agritech and Cristy Angeles of SMFI explained that participants are obliged to complete the 12 weekly training.

Each session tackles the sequential education of farming starting from planning the farm, seeding, proper ventilation, water management, pest control, infection management, greenhouse and harvesting.

“We encourage our participants to bring notes every session, in order for them to document the necessary information about every lesson as guide in the course of training,” said Barcelona.