Mr. Henry S. Binahon, an advocate of agroforestry who believes that the farm shall be a place of abundance and a place to commune with nature.
Mr. Henry C. Binahon, the current National President of the Samahan ng Magsasaka Siyentista ng Pilipinas (SMSP), Inc. is also the proud owner of BAFF. And he may just ask back, why not? A true Magsasaka Siyentista (MS) or a Farmer-Scientist would welcome opportunities to visit successful farms of their fellow MS. It would be an opportunity of learning and sharing Best Practices in a real working farm setting.
The farm’s journey to what it is now is a story worth emulation. From a 2.75 hectare monocrop area back in 1992, the farm has now transformed into a profitable eight-hectare agroforestry farm. BAFF has evolved while at the same time respecting nature and its limits. It uses technology that are geared towards adaption of climate variability and climate change. Farm practices include Natural Vegetative Strips (NVS), Sloping Agricultural Land Technology (SALT) Farming System, Sustainable Organic Upland Farming (SOUP) which he developed to suit his needs and that of the environment, Korean Technology for their Pig Production and Effective Microorganism Technology and preservation of the natural forest.
Currently, BAFF has 11 major agri-based enterprises, namely: (1) Seedling business, from which they source out their biggest income; (2) Farm tourism which includes transportation business especially for their guests; (3) Food processing, where they showcased their carrot-based products such as carrot juice, carrot concentrate, cakes, cupcakes, cookies, macaroons, and ice cream, (4) Organic fertilizer production, both wet and dry; (5) High Value Vegetable Crops (HVVC) production such as carrot, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbages, eggplant, radish, pechay, yacoon and sayote; (6) Herbs and spices production such as parsley, celery, sweet basil, java mint and peppermint; (7) Orchard which encompasses all the fruit trees found in the farm such as banana, jackfruit, lanzones, and durian; (8) Industrial crops which covers rattan, rubber and abaca, (9) Ornamental crops; (10) poultry and livestock such as chicken, turkey, duck, and pig production; and being an accredited Learning Site of the Agricultural Training Institute – Regional Training Center X, it has added one new business enterprise, 11) Training and Learning Center which includes Catering where they utilizes their own farm produce and that of neighboring farms.
The farm now has three training halls, two dormitories and 45 cottages which could accommodate about 250 participants and guests, as well as a pasalubong center. They not only cater to local and national visitors, but international as well.
Mr. Binahon is a pride of the Talaandig tribe. Aside from being President of the SMSP, he is also the President of various organizations such as the Region 10 MS Association, Landcare Foundation of the Philippines Inc., (LFPI), Bukidnon Resource Management Foundation and Agri-Learning Site Association. He is the National Chairman for the Rural-Based Organization Council, Vice President for the Northern Mindanao Organic Agriculture Association, Inc., and a Member Council of Elders for the Talaandig Tribe, Bukidnon Tagoloan Tribe, Bukidnon Higa-onon Tribal Association and Haga-onon Umayanon Tigwahon Council of Elders.
Despite being a social science graduate, Mr. Binahon’s love for agriculture flourished like wildfire and his passion for this sector was one of the key factors of his success. He is married to Mrs. Perla Quidlat-Binahon, a forestry graduate, and they were blessed with a son and a daughter, namely: Henry Mark, an Agricultural Engineering student and Pearlie Jane, a Plant Pathology graduate who is now taking up Law.
According to Mr. Binahon, he had faced numerous problems, failures, and even dealt with difficult situations when he was still establishing his farm, to the point of almost giving up. But because of his dream for a better life for his family, he pushed through and faced the storms head-on. Coupled with hardwork, perseverance and passion, he joined trainings, innovated on his learnings to make it more site specific and applied it to his farm. It was always inherent to him to turn his disadvantage into opportunities because according to him, all problems have integral solutions if you just analyse it carefully. His positive outlook in life has become his asset as he engaged with several teething troubles.
His efforts though, were not wasted. He is now a recognized partner of the LGU-Lantapan, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), DOST – Philippine Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD), Agricultural Training Institute (ATI), Central Mindanao University (CMU), NGO’s and other agencies. Also, a lot of schools – local and international – are sending their students in the farm for their On-the-Job Trainings.
Success, for him is not so much about the outcome but the process. It is learning from every failure and innovating to make it more site specific. He said that “it is the process which is more important than the destination because failures often creates magical results” – just like the Binahon Agroforestry Farm.