ALEGRIA, Surigao del Norte – More farmers in Surigao del Norte are expected to grow cacao and thereby increase the production of this high-valued crop in this province. This after thirty farmers completed the Farmers’ Field School (FFS) on Cacao Production that ran for 16 weeks from May 30 to September 14, 2018.
The objectives of the FFS were to empower the participants with knowledge and skills in cacao production, make critical and informed decisions toward a more profitable and sustainable cacao farm, and gain new ways of thinking and problem solving.

During the entire duration of the FFS, the participants learned on soil and climatic requirements, nursery establishment, cultural management, pest and disease management, harvesting techniques, Good Agriculture Practices (GAP), climate change, agro-ecosystem analysis (AESA), commodity situationer, processing and market opportunities of cacao.

Several farmers expressed their gratitude for the opportunity of taking part in the said activity.

“We are thankful for this training because now many of us are planting cacao. Before, we didn’t have any knowledge on how to care and maintain them that is why I am very thankful to ATI and to the LGU who gave their extra effort in making this training possible in our place because this not just simply a program, but a livelihood, a money earning opportunity,” said Josapat Biong.

Lourdes Sunico, on the other hand, related how eager he was in joining the FFS. “I joined this training because I really wanted to know about cacao farming. Long ago, I never took cacao seriously. For me it was enough that I have planted them that is why my area was weedy. Now it is well kept. I also now know the enemies of cacao and how to deal with them. What I am hopeful is that our cacao will be productive. It will give us additional income and hopefully will make us wealthy.

Lastly, Marieta Esaga shared her insights about the FFS. “I am impressed because I did not expect that this will happen. I thought it was just a simple training and farming. But it gave us a lot of benefits. I was very thankful that ATI came up with this program. Aside from the knowledge on the how, there were no secrets on how to maintain our crop to make it productive. Indeed, our four months of coming here were really not waste of time.”