Sustainable agriculture (SA) development extension and promotion in Northern Mindanao [Philippines]

The Philippine Agenda 21 of 1996 or the National Sustainable Development Agenda in the 21st century reflects sustainable agriculture as a development agenda to support the dominantly small farming households in the countryside. In the same light, the United Nations Millenium Development Goal (UN MDG) focuses on poverty reduction and sustainable agriculture for small farmers. In line with the above agenda and goal, Tagupa (SAC XUCA) spearheaded the mainstreaming and institutionalization of sustainable agriculture development, extension, and promotion in the formal and informal structures particularly in Northern Mindanao. This involved the implementation of various programs that focused mainly on the empowerment of small farming communities in the region towards sustainable food security and improved living conditions. The more popular among such programs were: the Community-based SA Development Program (COMBASE); Sustainable Land Use Management (SLUM) Program; Bukidnon MASIPAG Farmers' Multipurpose Cooperative (BMFMC) Postharvest, Processing, and Marketing Program, and the participatory onfarm farmer-led research and innovations program. The COMBASE trained more than 300 farmers from 13 barangays [villages] who adopted the SA systems in various degrees of conversion towards organic agriculture (OA) and various forms of SA. Over 1,000 households produce organic home gardens planted to different vegetables and herbal species. As an outcome of the COMBASE, the Valencia City Council approved City Ordinance No.1 on 21 February 2005, creating the Task Force Organic (TFO) with main function of formulating a process-based band people-centered SA and Organic Rice Development Master Plan (ORDMP) in the city. Forty farmer-managed demonstration and learning farms in Sinayawan Parish, Valencia City served as exposure sites for training of farmer participants. It received and interacted with about 2000 participants from various places in Mindanao as well as from neighboring Southeast Asian Regions. It also strengthened the organization of over 40 active farmer-based SA trainers pool in Valencia City with various skills. Under the SLUM Program, the community residents established their upland learning center on SA through bayanihan. Local asset mobilization was also evident with the establishment of solar-based electrification center. SAC closely coordinated with BMFMC Marketing and Post Harvest Processing in Sinayawan in the implementation and monitoring of cooperative-led rice trading and marketing. One of the BMFMC's businesses is the cluster-based organic rice marketing. The Participatory On-Farm Farmer-Led Research and Innovations Program was able to screen more than a hundred MASIPAG rice lines for rice intensification sub-program and supported the conversion of about 80 percent of chemical-based farms of COMBASE rice areas into OA and SA farms. SAC worked closely with government and nongovernment organization in Mindanao such as the Inter Diocesean SA (IDSA), the DA-BSWM, and Japan International Cooperating Agency (JICA) among others. The learning experiences of SAC served as a model for community-wide rural development program that strategically brings the benefits of SA to the poor agriculture-based communities. Regular program monitoring and evaluation needs to be carried out to determine the sustainability of its impact to the intended clients and other stakeholders.