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Grameen Rice-Finance
Reforestation
Sustainable Agriculture
Rice Farmers
Cooperative / Carabao Dispersal
Credit
Cooperative
Women's
Handicrafts (2002) /
Rice Cooperative
Vegetable Farmers
Cooperatives Women's Wastepickers Enterprise (2001) by JVOFI
Entrepreneurs
Cooperative |
Description of the SWCF project: The project is a community-based integrated natural resource management project which aims to uplift the life of the farmers in the area in order to curtail or minimize further encroachment of forest resources. As of June 2001 (first-half of the 4th year of implementation) the project assisted 1,979 farmers. Assistances are in the form of water system development, farm inputs, agro-forestry nursery development, livestock dispersal, organic farming and community organizing. Implementation is marked by exceeding project targets and active partnership of the local government units and the assisted people's organization.
The Testimony of Lolito Daverao Twenty-seven year old Lolito Daverao is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Edlynda Daverao in Barangay La Union, Sierra Bullones, Bohol. Lito, as they fondly called him was newly married when the DISOP project started in his area in the middle of 1988. Married to Analyn Alpeche, Lito began his early-married life with a few assets such as a small hut and a newly laid-out contoured farm without any crop at all. He doesn't even have any livestock to start with. His only strength is his openness to new ideas, his perseverance and his being a very innovative farmer. Lito is the farmer that always experiments on things. In the first few years of project implementation, he implemented mulching trials on corn, incorporation of manure and kudzu legumes in ameliorating the soil and intercropping. His experimentation led him to lesser harvest but he still goes on until he found out that the fruits of his labor are great. It resulted in lesser farm inputs for commercial fertilizer, good and fertile soil. In 1999 to 2000, Lito boosted his farming systems. The project dispatched an Anglo-Nubian buck to him. Since then, Lito upgraded the goats in the barangays and enabled him to own goats for himself too. From no goats at all, he now owns 8 goats. His farm became more productive using the technologies he thought worth doing. He practiced intercropping of peanuts and corn, managed to plant vegetables utilizing goat manure as fertilizer. He was able to put up a decent house from his farm income. He also got income from the bananas he planted near his house. Because of his exemplary performance in augmenting his farm income and the fervent adoption of agro forestry technology, he was awarded the Most Outstanding Farmer of the Year for two consecutive farmers field day. The award was given after a farmer-to-farmer evaluation of the 6 project sites. To date, his farm is the model for other farmers who are interested in implementing the technology. Lito is also an active member of the La Union Farmers Multi-purpose Cooperative. A farmer instructor in agro forestry, Lito’s farm and all the other farms in La Union have been visited by other farmers in the project sites and farmers coming from other NGO’s. Finally, Lito is blessed with 2 children and an ever-supportive wife. Lito’s firm belief and confidence in himself and his recognition of the synergistic connection between effective resource management and livelihood gave fulfillment to his hopes. Dreams do come true when one has hope and when one strives to realize it. His hope and his unrelenting efforts are his greatest contributions to the project. |
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© 2003 by DISOP Philippines All rights reserved |
