(Firstly), it is important to convince farmers and their respective (farmer) cooperatives and associations or FCAs to collectivize and come together to optimize the interventions and assistance provided by the DA and other government agencies.
Thus, I hear the DA singing “Whispering Hope[1]” (lyrics by Bill Gaither):
Soft as the voice of an angel, breathing a lesson unheard
Hope with a gentle persuasion, whispers her comforting word.
Let us now pay 100% attention as the “DA Introduces Modern Cluster Farming[2]” (ANN, 11 November 2020. NewsLine Philippines, Newsline.ph; top image from same source):
Davao City – Vegetable farmers in Baracatan, Toril, Davao City adopt precision agriculture technology to double their yield and improve quality of their produce.
The Bridge of Blessing Farmers Agriculture Cooperative (BBFAC) partnered with (an) Israeli-based company to engage in Modern Cluster Farming Technology. Evangeline B Bartolazo, BBFAC Chairperson says their cooperative was formed in 2017 and ventured (into) high-value vegetables such as lettuce, cauliflower, and salad tomato including eggplant, upo, and ampalaya.
Now, that Davao cooperative headed by Miss Bartolazo is thriving!
The DA is whispering hope to organized farmers, lots of hope. Mr Dar continues what he says above:
Secondly, it is easier and more cost-efficient and effective for the DA to deal with organized farmers through their FCAs than individual farmers, as we provide them appropriate training and cutting-edge technologies, including farm inputs like seeds and fertilizers, and farm equipment and machinery.
Trainings, technologies, seeds, fertilizers, sets of equipment, machinery – What else do you want from the DA!?
Listen to what the BBFAC people are saying. Don’t we hear them singing?
Whispering hope, oh, how welcome thy voice
Making my heart in its sorrow rejoice.
Clustering means grouping smaller individual operations into one big operation. “Clustering and consolidation leads to attaining economies of scale,” says DA Region 11 Regional Director Ricardo Oñate Jr. “This (enables farmers) to greatly reduce their cost of operations, attain bountiful harvests, and earn better incomes.”
Before the BBFAC came into being, Miss Evangeline says the individual vegetable farmers “could not meet the volume and quality required by the market.” And irrigation was one of their major constraints. “Our crops wilted during dry season since we could hardly cope the need to water them,” she said. After Netafim, one of the world’s pioneering irrigation companies, identified the BBFAC area as the demo site for its Modern Cluster Farming Technologies:
“We invested P2 million to replicate the technology we introduced in India such as establishment of viable water source, application of drip fertigation technology, and training on (an) effective irrigation system,” says Alex Gamutan, NetaPhils CEO.
ANN says, Miss Evangeline says, “the assistance they received enabled them to increase their yield, improve quality of produce, and lower production cost.”
The DA is not only whispering – it is clustering farmers’ hopes!@517
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