IN LINE with the project titled “Indigenous Knowledge Systems in a Changing Landscape: The Case of Itogon Watershed,” Benguet State University-Institute of Social Research and Development (ISRD) along with the Office of Extension Services (OES) and National Power Corporation-San Roque Watershed Area Team (NPC-SRWAT) conducted and facilitated a three-day Lakbay-Aral on March 22 to 24, 2018 at BSU Organic Demo Farm; Ola Organic Coffee Farms, Sagada; and Womens Brigade, Bontoc.
There were 24 Indigenous Peoples (IP) representatives from Daynet, Ampucao, Itogon, Benguet.
The project aims to help the Ibaloi-Kalanguya communities in building their Indigenous Knowledge System (IKS) to lift up their livelihood in an increasingly challenging situation, the fact that these communities sit in a resettlement area but is also a watershed and an ancestral land claim.
The lakbay-aral, served as the culminating activity of the project’s first phase with the objective of exposing the local folks to the diversity of cultures – specifically on how organic farming is carried out at BSU; how a traditional crop like coffee has managed to compete in the market; and how cultural values can be reformulated to maintain peace and order in an urbanizing IP community.
The first part of the Lakbay-aral was a tour around the OES organic farms and Good Agriculture Practice (GAP) farms. Prof. Alexander Fagyan, a faculty and researcher from BSU Soil Science Department who lectured on the basics of organic fertilizer in a seminar titled, Techno-demo on Organic Fertilizer Production, sponsored by the BSU-OES with.
According to Prof. Fagyan, the essential nutrients needed for organic fertilizer production are nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) or the NPK. Sunflower, rice straw, water lily, caliandra, sawdust, and cow manure are some materials rich with NPK that is used by BSU-Climate Smart Agriculture Center (CSAC) in compost production.
“I was able to understand that sweetpotato is also one source of nitrogen which is the only available material in our area. Also I learned that adding molasses into organic compost can eliminate the foul odor,” concluded by Magdalena Mendoza, Daynet IP participant.
The Daynet IP participants visited Ola Organic Coffee Farms (OOCF) in Aguid, Sagada, Mountain Province.
Mr. Joseph G. Bogenggeng is the one who established the farm in spite of being met by indifference by most of the Aguid community members. As described by Jennifer Rimando, manager of OOCF, “My grandfather was not deterred and attended different to help the farm grow and I named it Ola Farm. In time some community members and his family became interested to plant coffee with his guidance and they were also able to establish their own coffee farm.”
Ola Farm is now a learning site for coffee production among all interested coffee farmers or enthusiasts as well as students willing to learn about coffee. In fact, Jennifer currently have student interns from different Universities in CAR and private sectors who are interested in coffee production. “Being the Ola farm manager, I was able to share knowledge as a coffee Q grader and a farmer,” she added.
Ola Farm was chosen as this was the recommended site for coffee farm tour by the Sagada Gold coffee grower Mr. Vincent Andawi. Back in Daynet, there was an attempt to introduce Arabica coffee by the NPC but due to insufficient technical knowledge and assistance, the coffee plants that were tried out ended up stunted.
During the coffee farm visit Ms. Rimando shared her knowledge on proper coffee production processes – from planting, harvesting, drying of coffee beans, roasting, packaging, branding and marketing.
In all of these processes Rimando emphasized that, “There is no shortcut for quality. As much as possible growers should attend seminars to attain knowledge because learning is a continuous process.”
The tour helped the participants see how Ola farms was able to cultivate, propagate and promote coffee and make it a sustainable source of livelihood.
This is also an opportune time for both the SRWAT and BSU as assisting organizations to be enlightened on some issues of IPs that must be addressed at the institutional level.
Mrs. Juanita Boadilla, a lakbay-aral participant, commented that, “Through the lakbay-aral, we were able to visit different places where we learned about organic production and on coffee. We also got to pick some seedlings while touring the coffee farms and would try to plant it in our place. We would apply what we learned and we hope that these kinds of activities will happen frequently.”
Furthermore, the group arrived at Bontoc, Mountain Province meeting the Bontoc Women’s Brigade (BWB). The aim for this meeting was for the participants to interact, learn about best management practices and be inspired.
Dr. Ruth Batani, the project leader for the first phase of this BSU-led project, said that, “The idea of meeting with the BWB is to allow the Itogon folks to listen to the stories of these women on how indigenous values can be reworked in an urban modern-day setting. Certainly, the respect to older women is still powerful in terms of disciplining excess behavior of young people. Majority of the BWB members who met with us are from Samoki, Bontoc, Mountain Province and they said that women carry a powerful voice and presence. In the implementation of the alcohol ban and curfew, the BWB saw to it that everyone complied.”
Mrs. Carol Castañeda, a BWB member, explained that, “We are doing this voluntarily. We don’t receive salary, though we are being supported by the provincial and municipal government. They are providing us annual fund which we use in buying flash lights and needs for the organization, we also receive medical assistance”.
“This lakbay-aral also served as an avenue for the Daynet IPs to get a lot of inspiration and learning while providing them with an avenue to socialize and bond with each other as a community. It also somehow presents an alternative livelihood for the residents by exposing them to other indigenous communities that will inspire and motivate them to pursue and negotiate for alternative if not additional services and livelihood be given to them.
We hope to see this learning be implemented on their community and be an addition in making their community and life better as we also hope to be the result of the study,” concluded Dr. Ruth S. Batani.