Therma Marine, DSWD provide livelihood skills training to Maco farmers

ABOUT a hundred Mapaang corn farmers in Maco, Compostela Valley no longer have to rely on the P28,000 they earn from each harvest, toiling on 2,500 square meters of land.

The farmers learned to grow organic onions, which allow them to earn as much as P160,000 for 2,000 kilos of high value onions they harvested from the 2,500 square meters of land they set aside for the endeavor.

The 100 farmers are the first batch of beneficiaries of a joint livelihood skills training program of AboitizPower subsidiary Therma Marine and the provincial Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Jinglyn Ragase, one of the farmer-beneficiaries, thanked AboitizPower for the opportunity to grow organic onions, which sell at an average of P80 per kilo. She said that her family’s income from growing corn, which is harvested once every 4 months during favorable weather, is a far cry from onion growing.

Onions are also harvested once every four months.

Ragase said that income from growing corn was not enough to provide for her family’s basic needs. She pointed out that almost 35 percent of the income from a harvest of corn goes to buying seeds for the next planting season.

During the livelihood training program on organic onion farming, farmers received starter kits to enable them to begin planting right away.

The training teaches farmers to switch to growing onions as their main produce or to practice intercropping. After the first harvest, the farmers can use selected bulbs for the next planting.

Farmers also have the option to establish onion nurseries and sell the bulbs to fellow farmers.

Jan Risager, Therma Marine vice president for Mindanao operations, said that the training is one of the ways for the company to give back to the community that has supported all of AboitizPower’s sustainability initiatives like the A-Park where Therma Marine has planted 10,000 indigenous and fruit trees since 2012. (pr)