WE FIRST met with Mr. Pedro Maggonyoy, barangay captain of Loccong, Tinglayan, Kalinga, during a visit to the house of Governor Jocel Baac last May 4, 2017.
I recall Kapitan Maggonyoy visited the governor to ask help for livelihood projects that he can implement in his barangay.
Governor Baac, introduced Kapitan Maggonyoy to regional executive director (OIC) Lorenzo Caranguian and asked the DA to help Maggonyoy’s concern.
During their talk, director Caranguian requested Maggonyoy to encourage his constituents to plant coffee as alternative cash crop to marijuana.
I am quite certain director Caranguian and Kapitan Maggonyoy continued their exchange of communication after that meeting.
Last May 10, Kapitan Maggonyoy left his house in Barangay Loccong to be with Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel “Manny” F. Piñol in Barangay Balawag, in the outskirts of Tabuk City. He will receive, in behalf of his constituents, the Loccong Gardeners Association, 10,000 Arabica Coffee seedlings worth Php 150,000.
During the turnover of the seedlings, Secretary Piñol wanted to make sure whether planting coffee would be effective in the drive to discourage farmers in Tinglayan from planting marijuana. He asked Kapitan Maggonyoy how many months will it take to harvest marijuana from the time the farmers planted it?
“It takes about 3-4 months,” Maggonyoy responded.
Secretary Piñol next asked him, how many years does it take to grow coffee plants until they bear and mature their beans for harvest in the field?
Kapitan Maggonyoy’s response to the good Secretary’s query was not certain, but that it takes about 3-4 years.
Secretary Piñol next inquired about what the farmers would be doing, or where will they get income while waiting for the harvest of coffee in that long period of time. The farmers have to eat, provide the basic necessities their families need, he said.
To go on with the program, Secretary Piñol turned-over the 10,000 coffee seedlings to Maggonyoy, along with another 50,000 seedlings of Robusta Coffee worth P750,000 to the Tubog Agri-Processors Association of Tabuk City, and, 50,000 pieces of Robusta Coffee and 10,000 bags of organic fertilizers worth P1 million to the Tanudan Savings and Lending Cooperative.
The good Secretary was not yet finished with his concern on encouraging farmers to plant coffee as a profitable cash crop. He allotted an amount of P50 million for the implementation of the Production Loan Easy Access (PLEA) program in the province. He asked the farmers and their associations to take advantage of the program by acquiring and using their loans to establish profitable livelihoods and sources of family income.
He asked the farmers to help him revive the traditional raising of chickens in the farms through a Nationwide Backyard Chicken Raising (NBCR) program. He said that farmers in the countryside can grow their own requirements for quality chicken meat and eggs, than depending on imported food.
Another quality source of meat that many have now forgotten is native pig. According to Secretary Piñol, native pig meat commands a high price in the market because it is lean and healthy.
Later in the day, after his field work in Barangay Balawag, Secretary Piñol proceeded to the M Hotel in Appas, Tabuk City, for the conduct of a stakeholder’s consultation. The local executives of the province along with farmers and officials of the DA’s attached agencies were gathered there to help in the government’s food programs and also air their issues and concerns, which were all positively responded to.
Noting the presence of the Mayor of Tinglayan, Honorable Sacrament Gumilab, Secretary Piñol asked him where Arabica Coffee can be profitably grown in his municipality.
In response, Mayor Gumilab said it can be grown in about 30 hectares in a mountain plateau where marijuana use to be planted and grown. He then asked the good Secretary to help in constructing a road to the site so it can be converted into an agricultural production area for the locals instead of the growing of marijuana. That too was granted pending the submission of properly validated proposals and documentary requirements.
Secretary Piñol’s initiatives during his visit to Kalinga have potentials of mobilizing rural folks in creating jobs along the food production and processing chain. But how do we work our way out of the challenges and bottlenecks to the stories of successes it offers? We can start by reviewing our programs and projects and align these to the Administrations food security and sustainability concerns.
More important, let us not forget the social preparation needed to make a coffee project, or any agricultural project gain success.
Let us join hands in making Secretary Piñol’s support to highland agriculture, benefit the locals most, all Filipinos too. The outcomes of our work, hopefully, are the stuff new legends in agricultural development are made of, one that we all have the responsibility to tell anywhere, anytime.