MANILA, Philippines  — Helping Indigenous Peoples (IPs) harness their ancestral lands could contribute to the production of more food and other necessities. If the huge ancestral lands set aside for our brothers in the uplands are farmed in a sustainable way, rural poverty could be alleviated and there could be less peace and order problems.

One very good example is the project that has been started by Dr. Pablito P. Pamplona in Laak, Compostela Valley. Dr. Pamplona is a retired professor and scientist of the University of Southern Mindanao, a fruit expert and hands-on commercial farm operator.

What he did starting last year was to lease 100 hectares from the Indigenous People of Laak who have in their control 49,000 hectares of ancestral lands. Dr. Pamplona and his son Joseph have a plan that could trigger the development of the vast areas held by the IPs. The 100 hectares will be developed into a showcase of commercial plantings of four high-value crops, particularly oil palm, rubber, longkong and mangosteen.

Why these four crops? Dr. Pamplona thinks these can be grown by the IPs successfully. One portion of the property will be devoted for the production of planting materials. A bigger portion, however, will be used for commercial planting of the four crops.

A training center will be put up where the Indigenous People could train on the various aspects of plant propagation, plantation establishment, maintenance down to marketing of their produce.

After three years, Dr. Pamplona will turn over to the Indigenous People 10 hectares that will fully planted to the four crops. The IPs will manage the plantation as an honest-to-goodness business so they will have a feel of running a farm like a business.

The families of the IPs could start their own plantations with technical assistance available from Dr. Pamplona.

We also remember a rural banker who related to us his own project that will provide livelihood to the IPs in another part of Mindanao. He had started to teach the Indigenous People how to produce organic sugarcane. They will produce muscovado sugar for export to a ready buyer in Europs.

Then there is another possibility. There is this fellow from Hawaii who has already geminated thousands of Arabica coffee seedlings in Quezon province. He is now looking for a wide area for planting this crop. He promises to buy the production which a big coffee chain that operates worldwide has also promised to absorb if there is enough production.

We mentioned this to an educated IP member (AIM masters degree graduate) up in the north. He said that could be undertaken in his province where the climate is mild and is conducive to coffee production. The area allocated to this particular IP tribe is 79,000 hectares.

We are going to link the Hawaii-based fellow so initial talks could start. Who knows, this could be the start of something big.

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AANI FARM TOUR TO MAJAYJAY – Another farm tour will be conducted by AANI on Sunday February 5. The participants will visit the very successful organic farm of Ronald Costales – the Costales Nature Farms in Brgy. Gagalot, Majayjay, Laguna.

Only last January 14, AANI conducted a farm tour that visited the Known-You Philippines experimental farm in Carmen, Rosales, Pangasinan. The participants also attended the Agri-Kapihan and Techno Forum that was attended by more than 200 people from different parts of the country.

At the Costales Nature Farms, the participants will see how five hectares are being devoted to the year-round production of lettuce, cucumber, French beans, culinary and medicinal herbs, organic farm animals like native and white pigs, rabbits, free-range chickens, fish like tilapia and Pangaqsius, and others.

The participants will also see how organic fertilizer, particularly Bokashi, is produced. This is a fermented mixture of rice bran, copra meal, carbonized rice hull and other ingredients that include molasses and Effective Microorganisms.

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KAUNLARAN SA AGRIKULTURA — Tune in to the radio program “Kaunlaran sa Agrikultura” aired every Sunday from 4:30 to 7:30 in the morning at DWWW, 774 khz on the AM band. This is co-anchored by Tony S. Rola, Nina Manzanares-Agu and Zac B. Sarian.