'The Dumingag Experience\r'

'THE DUMINGAG EXPERIENCE: A REFLECTION By Alfonso A. Tan I never had much information any(prenominal)(prenominal)what thoroughgoing market-gardening and the principles behind it, until in October 2012 when I joined the conduct of sparkle Level of Development Assessment (ALDA) in Dumingag town in Zamboanga del Sur. As a member of the regional monitoring aggroup who is conducting ALDA, I came across cardinal rural clear up Beneficiaries (ARB) organizations that discuss authoritatively some entire distantming like it is the wield of their hands.The two organizations — the Dumingag constitutional Farmers Association (DOFA) and the Dumingag extreme Farmers Credit and Savings Cooperative (DOFCSC) †turn out to be just two of the several farmer organizations in Dumingag who ar radical realm practiti 1rs. And the technology has been gaining terra firma since this grammatical constituenticular topical anesthetic government activity instauration was introdu ced by the municipal metropolis manager more than five geezerhood ago. My layman’s understanding of entire acres then, was manifestly kitchen-gardening without the hold of pesticides, herbicides or whole artificial fertilizers.I k right off it has good wellness benefits for our body because the farm produce argon all-natural. It is environment-friendly too. Later on, I learned that on that point argon in like manner so-called â€Å" positive animals” or those that atomic number 18 non unplowed in cages and not fed with mercenary available feeds, which are generally by- point of intersections of an other(prenominal) animals. The internet offers several helpful definitions of radical kitchen-gardening. The Bureau of Plant Industry in Australia defines organic domain as â€Å"the business of food and fibre without the use of artificial chemical fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides or genetically change organisms (GMOs).The Certified extreme Associat ions of British capital of South Carolina registers, organic dry land promotes the sustainable health and productiveness of the ecosystem †dirty, plants, animals and heap. thorough foods are farmed in an environmentally sustainable and neighborlyly answerable way, focusing on territorial dominion regeneration, irrigate conservation and animal welfare. As far as topical anaesthetic government foots are concerned, I believe the organic country technology as revolutionalized in the town of Dumingag, Zamboanga del Sur is wizard for the books.Last year, the Inter bailiwick compact of Organic agriculture Movements (IFOAM) laurelsed Dumingag as one of the five recipients of the â€Å"One World submit” for its organic body politic political design. IFOAM is a lead-in world coalition on sustainable gardening mainly dispassionate of cultured society organizations and social movements Dumingag town is its solely topical anaesthetic anaesthetic government member. Started in 2008, the IFOAM award runs every two years to roll in the hay organic farming initiatives that take up do a difference in the domain of a function of sustainable development.Dumingag is a second frame municipality in the eastern part of the obligation of Zamboanga del Sur. It is composed of forty four â€11 lowland and 33 upland†barangays, with a total land area of 618. 50 square kilometers and a population of 46,039 per 2007 census. situate in the heartland of the Zamboanga peninsula and on the northwest great deal of the fertile Salug Valley, Dumingag is bounded on the northwestward by the municipality of Sergio Omena, Sr. ; on the eastern by the municipality of Mahayag; on the South by the municipalities of Sominot and Midsalip; and on the West by the municipality of Siayan, Zambonga del Norte.Dumingag was part of the municipality of Molave when it was created into a barrio in 1950. Dumingag was once a vast expanse of jungle and marshland, the pet habitat of wildlife. Its graduation exercise inhabitants were the Subanens who came from coastal areas of Misamis occidental and Zamboanga del Sur. The triumph of Dumingag started with the revolutionary idea of mayor Nacianceno M. Pacalioga Jr. , a agent Maoist rebel in the 1980’s who most singlehandedly transform Dumingag town into what it is today.After returning to the folds of law, Jun Pacalioga went work on their family-owned upland farm in 1995. His former comrades introduced him to organic farming, but at first, he was not persuaded. In the year 2000, a seminar on sustainable agriculture had someways convinced him the beauty of organic farming. Pacalioga’s visit to his former comrades’ farms in Davao metropolis has particularly impressed upon him the natural grandness of the soil that organic farming brings. negatively charged inorganic inputs, the farms produce crops free from pass-on toxicity.The unconditional result from his own practic e swarm Pacalioga to advocate organic agriculture to other farmers, finding kindred spirits among local drawing cards of the Catholic Church. According to city manager Pacalioga, bringing back the natural prolificacy of the farms and putting premium on maintaining soil health are central goals of Dumingag’s organic agriculture program. Long years of agrichemical use had tied farm productivity to the application of monetary valuely fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides that, in turn, killed earthworms and firm soil fertility.Likewise, the high cost of farming and declining farm production resulted in ridiculous income for tillers. â€Å"People could barely meet raw material necessities, such as food, clothing and nurture and hardly pay for basic social services, such as training and health,” city manager Nacianceno Pacalioga said. After he was elected mayor in 2007, Pacalioga aggressively promoted organic farming. He also caused the passage of a local measure enc ouraging and endorsing the widespread acceptation of the technology. The policy was not an easy-sell. Even some municipal officials did not buy the program at once.It took them several months to be convinced of the merits of organic farming. Soon, Dumingag leaders were up against the national policy design that promoted instead the use of chemical fertilizers and the cultivation of genetically special crops. To illustrate his point, Pacalioga turned down P2 cardinal worth of chemical fertilizers offered by the subdivision of Agriculture (DA) for distribution to the farmers. At one time, he also rejected a grant of genetically modified sieve seeds for dispersal in his municipality.As one of his first priorities, city manager Jun organized the Organic farm (OF) team which is tasked to lead in the execution of the organic farming program, especially discipline and advocacy. Likewise, he introduced confederation immersion wherein local officials, community leaders and different stakeholders went to the 44 barangays to fight down for the economic program on Sustainable Organic farming. Initially, those who shifted to organic farming grappled with a steep reduction in yield, although this was cushioned by the radical drop in cost.Several croppings later, as natural soil fertility meliorated, output went up. For rice, yield per hectare was at par with farms still applying agrichemicals at 95 65-kilo bags during the dry season, and 70 to 80 bags during the stringent season. But net earnings are higher with organic farming because cost has been reduced by at to the lowest degree a third. From only 20 organic farmers in 2007, the number of organic agriculture practitioners in the municipality rose to about d by 2011, increasing by ten-fold the size of farmlands cultivated along sustainable agriculture methodsâ€from close to hundred hectares earlier to some 1,000 hectares.In upland villages, organic farming is gaining adherents among vegetable cultivat ors and livestock raisers. Today, rice farmers pay produced 55 local organic varieties that check into a stable seed bank. The Dumingag Organic Farming System Practitioners Association (DOFSPA) composed of active organic farming practitioners was also organized. They also formed a cognition cooperative that could help better in raising capital for farming or in sharing the cost of farming failures due to calamities.Their cooperative initially started in providing production loan to the organic farming practitioners and helps in accessing good market. The mayor’s brainchild, the so-called Genuine People’s Agenda (GPA) was also institutionalized. Mayor Jun set forth the GPA as a product of collective discussion and leadership; a comprehensive program of government; a solution to the challenges; and it assures the better future of the people. In September 2010, the local government set up the Dumingag Institute of Sustainable Organic Agriculture (DISOA), a school th at trains farmers on organic farming principles and technology.Though DISOA started with modular courses as a vocational school, it aims to become a stiff college later offering special and ladderized courses on organic agriculture. moreover, all public and toffee-nosed school teachers in all levels in the municipality were educated on Sustainable Organic Agriculture and climate Change. The never say die attitude of a checkd cadre like Mayor Pacalioga is the major attribute to the success of his local innovations. He displayed strong political will in spite of the initial lukewarm response of the people.The municipality’s aggressive push for organic farming was the bedrock of a bigger program to bring socioeconomic uplift to the residents. The tosh of Mayor Pacalioga and the municipality of Dumingag is no different from the Curitiba experience with Mayor Jamie Lerner. It only goes to say that local innovations and governance works in any environment, people and cultu re. Mayor Lerner, a city planner has transformed Curitiba into a salubrious and liveable city through modernizing transportation system, environment-friendly parks and systematic garbage disposal.Conversely, Mayor Pacalioga, a former rebel leader has reinvented Dumingag into a sustainable rural community by introducing not only organic agriculture, but also optimize outlandish land use by having it set with high value trees and crops; and empowered the women to stake into hold programs. Dumingag or Curitiba; Philippines or Brazil, the construct towards sustainable development through local governance innovations are the same. Alternatively, local courteous society also plays an important government agency in the transparent and participative process that the local government is introducing.The efforts of the local government, be it in Brazil or Philippines would not have taken off had the people’s organizations, non-government organizations and the civil society did n ot cooperate. The success behind the local innovations and programs in any community, for that matter was a mannikinic manikin of local convergence at work. Dumingag achievements were not limited to agricultural statistics. Politically, the municipality also managed to improve in terms of development in local taxes and business. Based on the LGU data, the municipal income change magnitude tremendously at an reasonable of P3M per annum, swelling from P4. 5M in 2007 to P13. M in 2010. Likewise, business establishments rose from 180 in 2007 to 324 in 2010. The estimated Average Money Circulation in the market vicinity also climbed from P100,000 in 2007 to P2. 5 Million in 2010. These achievements are phenomenal for a second class town like Dumingag which 84% of its people are considered poor according to NSCB standards. Now, the municipality of Dumingag is implementing its hold in plan on organic agriculture. It is a specific blueprint of the town’s courses of action and s cientific approach towards sustainable development. The Dumingag LGU has also established unions with Assisi Development Foundation, Inc. ADFI), for partnership in Sustainable Agriculture, Water System, and Lumad reproduction; Xavier University- Sustainable Agriculture Center for education and advocacy for Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change; Philippine Agrarian Reform Fund (PARFUND) for Rice-Duck Farming and Technology; segment of Agriculture, for various programs and projects for livelihood and support on a lower floor services; and the JH Cerilles State College, for re look for and backup wherein the LGU has entered into a MOA to transform 100% the 43 hectares rice fields owned by the school into organic farming framework in support of the organic agriculture drive of the municipality. In 2010, as recognition of its innovative practices on sustainable organic agriculture, the Dumingag LGU, through Mayor Jun Pacalioga was conferred with the prestigious Galing Pook por tion out as one of the Ten keen Local Governance Programs in the Philippines. This was in person conferred to the proud mayor by His excellence Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III.The Galing Pook award is a national search of local governance programs, evaluated through a multilevel screening process establish on positive results and impact; promotional material of people participation and empowerment; transferability and sustainability; and strength of program service delivery. Beyond the awards, win programs become models of good governance promoted for word meaning in other communities. They provide useable insights and strategies to find innovative solutions to common problems. More importantly, they affirm the community and the local government’s commitment to good governance. The efforts of the aerial mayor really paid off.It is sheer that Mayor Pacalioga made use of his skills in community organizing, together with his strong reputation in pursuing his reform program s for the poor. Dumingag is now generating and storing its own seed varieties of rice so that they will not be at the mercy of big agrichemical firms in the future. The campaign of Mayor Jun also resulted in the increase of farming and planting activities in the municipality, all of these are geared towards sustainable livelihood and economic development. These developments are apparent in the extent of plantation areas compared to 2007 data. For example, Cassava areas increased from 350 to 2000 hectares; Abaca fields rose from 5 to 500 hectares; rubber areas goes up from 10 hectares to 1,100; and Falcata plantation climbed from 5 hectares to 200 hectares.It is remarkable to note that the local government innovation that started in the simple town has now gone international. Recently, through the facilitation of SAC-Xavier University, the Dumingag LGU was able to commove three delegates to South Korea for three-month training on Natural Farming Systems. The recipients were the Mun icipal Agriculture Officer, a municipal agricultural technician and a Sangguniang Bayan member. Sources: Organic farming takes root in Zamboanga del Sur Retrieved from: http://www. newsinfo. inquirer. net Sustainable Organic Agriculture. pdf Retrieved from http://www. bswm. da. gov. ph Dumingag, Zamboanga del Sur, Philippines Retrieved from: http://www. ugnayan. com/ph/ZamboangadelSur/Dumingag\r\n'