Adela in her organic garden.

EVERY time Adela Avian Dalapo, 48, and her family eat their home-grown fruits and vegetables, they eat their food with gusto, knowing they are among the lucky ones, unlike many people who get theirs from the market, not knowing how these were grown.

“Me, I’m very satisfied with my vegetables and fruits because I know these are free from fertilizers and other chemicals,” said the 48-year-old housekeeper from the hinterland Sitio Languyod in Barangay Libertad, some 18 kilometers away from downtown Gingoog City in Misamis Oriental.

Adela is lucky because she was among those trained by BMFI, starting in 2005, on diversified integrated farming system, which is basically sustainable agriculture covering, among others, organic farming.

“I always have a passion for farming,” she said. Because of her interest in the farm, the Barangay Development Council noticed and endorsed her to be trained as a local farmer technician.

The training turned out to be very useful for Adela as she acknowledged that the shift from their usual way of farming was really enlightening.

After the series of training that she underwent, she learned how to produce and use organic fertilizers. In effect, they now don’t buy fertilizers and pesticides, lessening farming expenses considerably. Her family now totally uses organic pesticides for their rice fields.

Despite the fact that her family’s main source of livelihood is farming, Adela’s family gambled with this new method.

But for Adela, it wasn’t a smooth-sailing ride toward sustainable agriculture. Anyone can undergo different trainings, but to put into practice one learned in trainings is another matter, especially because sustainable agriculture and organic farming is totally new to her.

Sharing her new-found skill with her neighbors is even more difficult, for who would believe someone who is not even a graduate of any college degree, a major qualification one looks up to in a teacher. People were apprehensive, saying the technology is impossible.

But Adela kept on promoting what she believed was the right way of farming that is both good for the environment and beneficial to farmers, especially to poor ones.

Her first attempt, after BMFI conducted the diversified integrated farming system in the area, was to convince a few of her neighbors to start a communal farm. But they were apprehensive, so not everyone participated. But Adela was happy because she was able to show the benefits of organic technology. And when people saw these, they started coming to Adela for information on sustainable agriculture.

Now, Adela is happy looking at the backyard gardens in every household in her community, where the farmers can easily get their vegetables for the day’s meal. It indeed is a great help since the barangay is quite far from the market.

After that, she then tried to organized another communal farm, this time with the women. Unfortunately, the women were busy with household chores. Instead, she ended up organizing a learning farm for out of school children. Soon, the children were harvesting pechay and upland kangkong. Soon, they will be harvesting bell pepper.

Together with the Philippine Youth Association in her barangay, they hope to widen their area of coverage as she sees the potential of the youth.

Aside from being a local farmer technician, recently she was trained as a “paravet” (short for “paraveterinarian”) in her barangay. As such, she is active in facilitating the backyard poultry raising in her barangay, which she thinks is a great help for the participating families.

The backyard poultry, she said, maximizes the free time of housewives. Aside from the additional income of P2,000 pesos every 32-day cycle, the project lets the family go on with their everyday routine. The housewife can still accomplish her everyday chore with occasional monitoring on the chickens. This project, Adela says, also encourages participation among out of school youths.