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How will a piece of land improve the lives of small farmers in rural communities?

A farmer’s son, the 38-year-old Edmar C. Espedosa once dreamed to till a land of his own and  to help his family improve the quality of their lives.  Due to financial constraints and meager income of farmers, he had to drop one year in high school to help his parents in the farm.  Nevertheless, the young Edmar never stopped dreaming.

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Hardworking and persevering, he enrolled at Central Mindanao University and was granted a scholarship for being an SK kagawad in their barangay of Sto. Domingo, San Fernando, Bukidnon.  The allowance from the scholarship enabled him to buy his daily needs as well as the requirements in school. With his determination, he finished his studies with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Agriculture major in Animal Science on time.  He was able to land a job right after graduation in a big company.

He thought he was already leaving the farm and become successful as an employee, but the farm has its own magic of pulling him back to where he first started dreaming.

In 2005, Edmar married the beautiful  Fer Monton, an elementary teacher.  They then decided to settle in the neighboring barangay where his wife grew up.

In 2008, a Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) was given to the couple through VLT/ DPS scheme over a parcel of land by Title No. TCT-AT-32883 with an area of 1.8557 hectares. The land is situated in Cawayan, San Fernando, Bukidnon.  Fortunately, the area is an irrigated rice land.

Edmar started tilling their own land, a dream come true, with the assistance of hired farm laborers.  He recalled, during that time, the average production of rice per hectare was  only 3.8 metric tons (MT).

In 2010, Edmar was hired as a regular Agricultural Technician in the Department of Agriculture and has attended a season-long training on palay check system conducted by the Agricultural Training Institute at El Salvador, Misamis Oriental.   It opened doors for him to learn more about best practices in agriculture and to engage in hands-on rice farming.  Upon his return, he was able to share his knowledge to his co-farmers in the community and the municipality of San Fernando.

In the initial breakthrough, the volume of his production increased from 3.8 MT  to 4.5 MT per hectare.  It was then that he started sharing his experiences in the farming system by combining Sustainable Agriculture Techniques and the Integrated Pest Management.  For five years, he was able to reach a remarkable average of 6.2 MT per hectare.  He stressed that the periodic monitoring of the interval of the use of palay  seeds (both hybrid and inbred seeds) plays a vital role in the farming success.

The breakthrough in the volume of his production was shared by Edmar to the farming community, either by means of  hands-on trainings or through information drives.   In fact, most Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs) in the community would come to his house anytime of the day to consult him and ask for guidance and techniques on how to improve their production as well as the quality of their palay grains.

Edmar acknowledged that all his successes started with that ‘piece of land’ awarded to them by the Department of Agrarian Reform.  He said it was not a smooth sailing path to success, but  with hard work and determination, they were able to improve the quality of their lives with the adoption of a productive farming system.

To date, he was able to purchase an additional two hectares of irrigated rice lands, rented four hectares of irrigated rice lands,  house and lot with complete appliances, four working animals, three units power tillers, a thresher, a motorcycle, a six-wheeled hauling truck, and a warehouse for palay storage.

The hauling truck is important to him especially because the barangay where they live is a remote area.  Access to barangay Cawayan is very challenging.  To reach the place, one has to cross four times the snake-like Tigua River.  Edmar can clearly remember those times when his income and production were still low and  he had to transport sacks of rice through his horse and bring it near the footbridge where local buyers were waiting.  For him, it was not an easy experience.

Edmar valued his occupation as a farmer.  It was just once a dream that became a reality.  When asked about his secrets to success, he humbly answered, “Farming is a noble career.  It must be valued through hard work and  good stewardship  coupled with love for the job and love for the family.  Success just comes along the way.”

 Edmar’s success in farming is an undeniable fruit of his love in tilling the awarded piece of land. He is a happy farmer, thus,  creating  ripple effects to his co-farmers in the community.  His rice field not only serves as a model farm.  It also serves as an inspiration to  small  farmers to keep on believing in their dreams that someday, somehow, success will also come the way. #

 

 

 

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