LS owner and retired public teacher Eleanor Rosario of Queensland farm presents a farm briefing to the farm tour participants
The farm tour activity is meant to spark interest and passion of the participants to make their respective farms earn a higher income through organic farming and diversifying the livestock they had raised and the crops they had planted.
They visited two learning sites; the Queensland Herbs and Tourist Farm which is owned and managed by retired public school teacher Ms. Eleanor Rosario of Bacolod, Lanao del Norte and Alomah’s Place in Dahilayan, Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon which is owned and managed by farmer couple Mr. and Mrs. Benjohn Mahistrado.
For both farms, the participants were given a brief discussion about the farms and were given the chance to tour around. You could see the interest of the participants and their drive to discover and learn new farming technologies.
Later, the group departed for Buhian Diversified Farm, located at Initao, Bukidnon. The farm tour started with resident vet Dr. Marily Vistal giving a short background of ATI. Young farmer Mr. Aljun Arbonida later delivered a brief discussion of the Buhian Diversified Farm and spearheaded the farm tour.
The participants were in awe of the farm and showed profound interest as they raised multiple questions during the activity. They critically examined each component of the farm – from the variety used for the livestock and crops up to the technology used for raising such farm components.
It was then after the tour when they finally met the owner of the farm, Hon. Nemia Penita Buhian, who gave a short history of the farm. This then furthered the astonishment of the farmers especially after they knew that the farm gained more than millions from just an area of 1.2 hectares. Several questions were raised particularly on the technology used by the farm in order to replicate and attain such success. They were also very amazed by the achievements of the owner of the farm since Hon. Buhian is a recipient of multiple awards.
During an interview with some of the participants of the field tour, most of them had positive feedback and even vowed to make their farms better. Others expressed their desire to learn more about the technologies presented to them and some affirmed that they would be the next title holders of different awards related to agriculture.
The farm tour transpired last July 4, 2017 with 31 farmer participants coming from the Municipalities of Maigo, Bacolod, Monay and Tangkal in Lanao del Norte. (written with reports from Jeric L. Cabatac)