Pinoy farming entrepreneur hailed at UN-backed forum

Warsaw—A Filipino project that aims to teach young farmers new farming methods and technologies to increase their yield and income was chosen as one of the successful entrepreneur stories at the Global Landscapes Forum in Warsaw.

 

The Forum is a side event to the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change’s 19th Conference of Parties, currently ongoing in Poland. 

 

 

Karen Tuason, a member of Task Force Mapalad (TFM), an agrarian reform group that supports to farmers in Visayas and Mindanao in their land tenure claims, was among 11 young entrepreneurs from around the world who were feted for their efforts to achieve sustainable landscapes. She heads a platform where farmers under 40 years old are given funding and technical assistance to ensure the sustainability of their farms.  

Young Filipino farmers

 

Young Filipino farmers are also taught to diversify and market their crops. They are also taught sustainable farming techniques so that they do not overuse fertilizers on their soils and avoid inappropriate crops. Young farmers are also linked with agricultural extension workers and private corporations who can become buyers of their products.

 

TFM’s project is a continuation of its fight for agrarian reform in the Philippines, which the group says is still grappling with the country's pronounced history of feudalism. 

 

In the Philippines, the distribution of land to farmers from big landowners—many of whom also wield political power and influence—is slow, often taking decades in courts.

 

In an interview, Tuason said young Filipino farmers are eager to try new things.

 

“They like it, especially when it has an economic impact,” she said. 

While the farmers involved in TFM's project are not going fully organic, “they are trying to find a balance between income and better farming methods,” Tuason added.

Need for updated farming knowledge

 

She noted that it is important to provide young farmers help since most of them are only getting farming knowledge and techniques from their elders. Since older farmers either have little education or none at all, the know-how passed to the younger generation needs updating.

 

Tuason’s project with TFM not only helps modernize Filipino farmers, it also helps them to be resilient against the dangerous impacts of climate change. The Philippines, which is in the path of cyclones from the Pacific, is visited by around 20 tropical cyclones every year and it is still reeling from the damage brought by super typhoon Yolanda last week.

 

Yolanda (international name Haiyan) was one of the strongest typhoons to make landfall on record. Climate scientists said that it is likely that global warming will intensify the storms that hit the country.

Beyond agrarian reform
 

Filipino farms are vulnerable to typhoons and droughts. Small farmers and those who are lucky enough to be granted land under the agrarian reform program still often find themselves unable to cope with disasters due to lack of knowledge and capital to protect their crops and improve their yields.

Thus, it is important that this group of farmers are given aid from the very beginning so that they can build resilience against disasters, according to Tuason.

 

“Having your own piece of land, though, is not quite enough to improve your livelihood. Working in the field is one thing, managing your own farm is something entirely different,” she said. 

 

“For those who have successfully acquired land fom the government, it is necessary to raise their capacities as new landowners especially on how to improve their crop yields so that they can engage in better markets, eventually increase their income and build on their resilience,” she added. — Kay Luiz/TJD, GMA News