When we first met him a couple of years back, then Congressman Proceso J. Alcala, now the new Department of Agriculture Secretary, admitted that Quezon province was well known for its insurgents.

But he said that you can’t subdue them by means of bullets. What will win them back to the fold of the law, he said, is to give them decent livelihood.

And that’s the main reason why he pursued as his pet project the construction of the first farmers’ trading post in Quezon, the Sentrong Pamilihan ng Produktong Agrikultural ng Quezon in the town of Sariaya. He knows that many farmers are poor because they don’t have a ready market for what they could produce in their farms.

Setting up the building for the trading post, of course, was not enough. The farmers have to be trained on the production of high-value vegetables and other crops. So he invited technicians of seed companies such as Allied Botanical Corporation, East-West Seed Company and some other seed distributors to conduct training on the basics of vegetable farming.

Alcala knew that training must be followed by the actual undertaking of crop production by the trainees. But to grow the hybrid seeds needed capital. And most of the farmers don’t have the cash.

So what did he do? He used his own money to finance the inputs of the farmers. Inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, plastic mulch and some others were advanced instead of cash. Part of the loans is automatically deducted every time the farmer sells his produce at the trading post.

One other project he sponsored during his incumbency at the legislature was the gardening competition in the public elementary and high schools in the second district of Quezon in cooperation with the Department of Education. The project which was continued up to last school year was dubbed “Procesong Gulay Para sa Masaganang Buhay.”

Under the program, the latest varieties of high-value vegetables were grown in the school grounds using environment-friendly, organic and natural farming practices. The components of the program included capability building which provided seminars on natural farming, including a handbook guide.

It also provided vegetable seeds and other inputs in the first cropping. The produce of the first crop was sold at prevailing prices so that the proceeds could be used to finance the succeeding croppings. This was intended to show that there is money in growing high-value crops, and that could inspire the children to encourage their families to engage in the same.

Right in the first cropping, the schools had proven that they can grow beautiful vegetables. Among the vegetables grown were mustard, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, snapbeans and carrot.

Alcala’s advocacy in natural farming is not limited to gardening in schools. The truth is that he has been sponsoring the training of farmers and local government officials on natural farming. Teresa  Perez-Saniano of Earthkeepers has been tapped to do the training.

One of the projects that Alcala and the Earthkeepers have undertaken lately was a showcase of organic rice farming that integrated the production of fish and vegetables. The rice paddies were constructed in such a way that the dikes are wide enough for the cultivation of vegetables. Along the periphery of the rice paddies, a canal is constructed for culturing tilapia and hito.

Alcala believes that it is important for the farmers to see actual demonstration farms so that they are easier to convince to adopt improved technologies.