Published May 25, 2021, 10:32 AM

by Manila Bulletin

Published from: https://mb.com.ph/2021/05/25/villar-farm-schools-help-promote-new-breed-of-filipino-farmers/

Villar SIPAG has four farm schools, which were established one after the other since 2015. The first is located in the boundary of Las Piñas City and Bacoor city that cater to farmers in NCR, Southern Luzon, and Bicol. The farm in San Jose del Monte City opened in July 2016. It also offers free training programs for farmers in Northern and Central Luzon and the Cordilleras.

Both Villar SIPAG farms schools are venues of the training program on Agri-Crops production in partnership with East West Seeds Foundation- program that is open to everyone who wants to learn urban agriculture, Training on Farm Business School, Production of High Quality Inbred Rice Seeds and Farm Mechanization, Workshop on Farm Machinery Operation, Management and Enterprise and Training on the Operation and Maintenance of Rice Machinery. All these in partnerships with Agricultural Training Institute (ATI), Philmech, Philrice and TESDA. It also provides location for training on Freshwater Aquaculture and Training on Native Animal Production and Management together with Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI). It also holds training in cacao production, intercropping of coconut with the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA).  

On January 20, 2020, Villar inaugurated the Villar SIPAG Farm School in San Miguel, Iloilo to serve the Visayas Region. The main training program offered here is the two-week Training of Trainors on Rice Mechanization and Inbred Rice Seeds Production. The Philippine Carabao Center also conducts training in Villar SIPAG Farm such as Training on Bull handling and Dairy andBuffalo Fattening. It became a venue for TESDA courses like Construction, Painting and Masonry.

In addition, the Villar SIPAG Farm School in Davao City was established also in 2020 to provide training to farmers and others who want to avail of agriculture-related training in Mindanao. 

Trainings at the Villar Farm Schools are financed by the Villar Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance (SIPAG). The Villar SIPAG Farm Schools have welcomed thousands of trainees and hosted hundreds of training sessions on agriculture-related courses for free. 

To date, there are 2,367 accredited farm schools all over the country that serve as learning sites for farmers and plant enthusiasts who are given the opportunity to train for free on the ways of modern farming. The farm schools once accredited with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) or by the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) they can avail of government support and scholarship grants as a learning site. 

The chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture and Food promote the increase of farm schools nationwide for agriculture-related training to help remove the barriers that prevent Filipino farmers and fisher folk from being competitive and profitable, including the lack of technology, mechanization and financial literacy, how to operate the farm as a business and inability to access cheap credit.

The growth of farm schools all over the country was attributed to two pieces of legislation that SenatorVillar principally authored: Republic Act 10816 or the Farm Tourism Development Act of 2016, which encourages the conversion of farms into tourist farms and learning sites; and Republic Act 11203 or the law that created the P10-billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund which mandated a special role for farm schools as venues of extension services program. 

There are more than two thousand accredited farm schools all over country that serves as learning sites. 

Published 11:50 AM November 11, 2020

by By: Katrina Hallare – Reporter / @KHallareINQ

Published from: https://business.inquirer.net/311530/manny-villar-among-forbes-asias-heroes-of-philanthropy

MANILA, Philippines — Billionaire businessman and former senator Manny Villar was hailed as one of Forbes Asia’s “Heroes of Philanthropy” for the year 2020, which highlighted outstanding 15 altruists in the Asia-Pacific region.

In a statement on Wednesday, Forbes Asia said Villar, who is the chairman of Vista Mall and Vista Land and Landscapes, gifted more than 2 hectares of land to Manila’s Saint Jude Catholic School in 2019, as well as finalized the donation of 5 hectares of land to his alma matter, the University of the Philippines (UP), for an innovation campus.

This innovation campus is UP Alabang which, according to the website of the UP Resilience Institute, will serve as an innovation campus for technology entrepreneurship and design engineering.

The donated land have a combined value of P8 billion, Forbes Asia said.

“Education can uplift our people from poverty. It can provide dignity and jobs,” Villar, who is known for his rags to riches story, told Forbes Asia through email.

Aside from his donation of land, Forbes Asia said that the 70-year-old businessman also made smaller donations that have gone to churches, poverty alleviation, and the fight against coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which included protective equipment and converting buildings into quarantine facilities.

Forbes Asia said that aside from the arts and education, some of those who made the list donated their personal fortunes to help in the fight against COVID-19.

“Several were prompted to build hospitals, provide protective equipment or fund medical research,” Forbes Asia said.

One of those who made the cut were Singapore’s property tycoons and brothers Robert Ng and Philip Ng, whose Hong Kong-based Ng Teng Fong Charitable Foundation contributed ¥50 million (or $7.4 million) in March to Tsinghua University in Beijing to support COVID-19 research.

Other donations made by the brothers included 7 million masks, 60,000 meals, 4,200 care packs to elderly home workers, 20 ventilators, and two mask-making machines in Hong Kong and Singapore, among others, Forbes Asia said.

Meanwhile, Vietnam’s richest man, 52-year-old Pham Nhat Vuong, was said to give away $77 million in the first nine months of this year.

“The funds were directed largely to helping needy people in Vietnam and included scholarships for underprivileged children and free healthcare for those unable to afford it,” Forbes Asia said of Pham’s donations.

This year’s list, Forbes Asia said, “encompasses entrepreneurs committed to causes in the Asia-Pacific region.”

“Our goal is to capture individual philanthropists who are donating from their personal fortunes,” Forbes Asia added. “Thus the list doesn’t include donations made by companies of Asia’s richest tycoons (unless the giving was made through a privately held company in which they are the majority owners).”

In last year’s list, actress Angel Locsin was hailed one of the magazine’s “Heroes of Philanthropy” for her advocacy of aiding victims of violence, natural disasters, and the conflict in Mindanao.

Villar SIPAG’s coconet weaving enterprises convert waste coconut husks into coconets, which are used as riprap materials in construction projects to prevent soil erosion.

The coconut tree has long been considered as the “Tree of Life” and for good reasons. All the parts of the tree can sustain a human life—the coconut fruit as food, the coconut juice is better than water as it very nutritious, the palms and trunks can be used to make shelter among many more. In short, it can supply man’s basic needs for survival. In fact, even the wastes from coconuts, such as its husks, are important in many people’s lives.

And Senator Cynthia Villar, through the Villar Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance of Villar SIPAG, has turned coconut wastes into a viable source of livelihood and income for many communities. In doing so has also helped in waste management efforts in the country.

“There are two-fold benefits in turning waste coconut husks into something useful, we got rid of garbage that used to litter our streets and clog our rivers and waterways. Secondly, we helped residents by providing them with livelihood and additional source of income. It’s a win-win for people and the environment,” said Villar who is chairperson of both the Senate Committees on Agriculture and the Environment.

Villar SIPAG’s coconet weaving enterprises convert waste coconut husks into coconets, which are used as riprap materials in construction projects to prevent soil erosion. Vista Land buys the coconets for its housing subdivisions.

Extracting of fiber

The workers extract fiber and coco peat from the waste coconut husks using a decorticating machine, which can extract fiber from up to 8,000 husks of coconuts daily. The fibers are then made into twines by women workers. Each twine is eight meters long. Another group of workers weave the loom of twines and within two hours they can weave one roll measuring one meter by 50 meters that can earn for them 200 pesos. The coconets cost 2,000 pesos per roll.

Coconet finished products

The coco peat or dusts extracted by the same machine are mixed with household wastes to make organic fertilizers. All the fertilizers produced are distributed all over the country and given free to farmers and urban gardeners. These have become in demand during the pandemic when the popularity of growing one’s food and vegetable gardening dramatically increased.

The people who are involved in making coconets and organic fertilizers have made it a viable source of income. Thus, they are committed to it. “One of my learnings as a social entrepreneur is that we really have to put a income component in our projects for them to be successful or sustainable. Otherwise, people will be hesitant or half-hearted to participate,” cited Villar.

According to Villar, their coco wastes project at also demonstrates how technological innovation can improve people’s lives. In coconet-weaving, it’s the decorticating machine invented by Dr. Justino Arboleda that paved the way for the production of the coconets from waste coconut husks.

“Dr. Arboleda’s invention has won awards. It is a good example of how a simple invention is now the source of livelihood of many families and has helped many cities get rid of wastes cause floods and pollute rivers and waterways,” said Villar.

It was in fact the persistent flooding in her home city of Las Piñas that brought attention to the notorious role of coco wastes in the problem. Villar said when they took a closer look and studied what’s causing the floods, they discovered the culprit—waste coco husks, thrown away by itinerant buko (coconut) vendors.

“Las Piñas River has become a big dumping area of waste coconut husks, which caused the clogging of the riverways. So we thought of controlling the wastes with the people’s cooperation. We designated areas where coconut vendors can bring or deposit waste coconut husks. Then we turned those as raw materials for coconet weaving enterprise that we put up,” the senator said. Besides the coconets, even the coco dust became a raw material mixed with household wastes to make organic fertilizer.

Indirectly, the coconet enterprise is also supporting farmers all over the country because they don’t have to buy fertilizer. It also boosts organic agriculture in the country. Incidentally, November is ‘Organic Agriculture Month’ by virtue of Proclamation No. 1030, which cites organic farming as an effective tool for development, environmental conservation, and protection of the health of farmers, consumers and the general public.

Villar is an active proponent of organic agriculture. In fact, Villar-authored Organic Agriculture Bill has been passed in the Senate on June 1. Senate Bill No. 1318 will introduce the Participatory Guarantee System (PGS), a more affordable and accessible certification system for organic products. It amends Republic Act No. 10068 (The Organic Agriculture Act of 2010) will provide the much-needed impetus to support the growth of organic agriculture in the country.  

As an environmentalist and social entrepreneur, Villar is continuously searching for ways and means to provide livelihood to Filipinos that also help protect the environment. Besides waste coconut husks, the raw materials used in Villar’s other livelihood projects are all from wastes. These are water hyacinths for the waterlily handicraft-weaving enterprise and the handmade paper factory; kitchen and garden wastes for the organic fertilizer composting facility; and plastic wastes for the waste plastic recycling factory that produces school chairs. The senator has set up over 3,000 livelihood projects nationwide.

Villar believes that there should be greater private sector and public participation in the development waste management programs. Her projects are implemented by Villar SIPAG in partnerships with numerous government departments/agencies, private sector groups and companies. It has established barangay-based livelihood enterprises that are models of proper waste management and good examples of how garbage can be turned into useful end-products.

Healthy soils are the foundation of habitats of living beings. They lay the groundwork, so to speak, in producing food, clean water, and other needs of life on earth. But in the last decade, deterioration and degradation of soil have been a cause of concern and even alarm, since it threatens food security and the sustainability of the environment.

Barangay Composting Center – Green Valley San Nicolas, Bacoor City, Cavite

Senator Cynthia Villar, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food, has passed legislations and implemented projects as well as programs with other groups to solve, and protect soils as important resources for sustainable agricultural development. In particular, she is alarmed by the level of soil degradation in the Philippines, which is placed at 38 percent.

“We must remember that over 95 percent of our food comes from the soil. Thus, soil health is important for agricultural productivity, which in turn will affect food security. And the solution is as simple as putting nutrients back to the soul through composting and going organic,” said Villar.

Villar has thus pushed for legislations that also provide for soil protection through sustainable and organic means. Likewise, she has also established and supported projects and programs in numerous communities all over the country to promote proper waste management, particularly kitchen and garden wastes, as well as from the wet markets (palengke) that can be turned into composts or organic fertilizer.

Villar’s waste management initiatives

The senator, through the Villar Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance or Villar SIPAG, established an organic fertilizer facility that uses two methods—rotary composting and vermicomposting.  Composting centers are set up in barangays where the collected kitchen and garden wastes from households are brought. It now has 80 composters utilized by 80,000 households in Las Pinas City and Bacoor City.

Barangay Composting Center –Barangay Ilaya, Las Piñas City

Barangay Composting Centers –Carbaggio, Barangay Talon Dos, Las Piñas City

Springville Meadows, Barangay Molino IV, Bacoor City, Cavite

“As part of our companies’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) and in support of my advocacy, Vista Land and Camella Homes communities in various parts of the country also have waste management facilities or centers. The wastes are also processed into organic fertilizer,” said Villar.

Vistaland and Camella Communities–Luzon Waste Management Facilities (Rotary & Vermi Composting) Barangay Del Rosario, Camella Homes, Naga City

Vistaland and Camella Communities–Visayas Waste Management Facilities (Rotary & Vermi Composting) Barangay San Jose, San Miguel, Iloilo

Vistaland and Camella Communities–Mindanao Waste Management Facilities (Rotary & Vermi Composting) Camella Solariega, Barangay Talomo, Davao City

As of September 2020, the 20 Vista Land/Camella communities in the National Capital Region, Regions 3, 4-A, and 5 (for Luzon); Regions 6 and 7 (for Visayas); Regions 10, 11, 12; and CARAGA (for Mindanao) produce over 61,000 kilos of organic fertilizers from kitchen and garden wastes collected from the residents.

Villar also established vermicomposting facilities that produce vermicompost or organic fertilizer, the use of which is environment-friendly since it keeps the soil healthy. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), composting can divert up to 150 kilograms of food waste per household per year from local collection authorities.

Villar SIPAG’s coconet weaving enterprises also help in solid waste management efforts as well as soil protection. It converts coconut husks that clog rivers and waterways into materials such as coconets, which are used as riprap materials in construction projects to prevent soil erosion. Vista Land buys the coconets for its housing subdivisions.

The workers extract fiber and coco peat from the coconut husks using a decorticating machine, which can extract fiber from up to 8,000 husks of coconuts daily. The fibers are then made into twines by women workers. Each twine is eight meters long. Another group of workers weave the loom of twines, and within two hours, they can weave one roll measuring one meter by 50 meters that can earn for them 200 pesos. The coconets cost 2,000 pesos per roll.

The coco peat or dusts extracted by the same machine are mixed with household wastes to make organic fertilizers. All the fertilizers produced are distributed all over the country and given free to farmers and urban gardeners.  

Working with BSWM in providing composting facilities to farmers & LGUs

Villar has also worked with the Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM) in providing Small Scale Composting Facilities (SSCFs) for Biodegradable Wastes (CFBWs) to farmer-beneficiaries and LGUs all over the country, so they can produce their own organic fertilizer.

Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Soils and Water Management –Sta. Barbara, Pangasinan

Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Soils and Water Management –Municipality of Catigbian, Bohol

Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Soils and Water Management –Municipality of Lebak, Sultan Kudarat

The CFBW units strengthened the institutional capacities of LGUs in terms of sorting, collecting, and composting their community wastes and to lessen the dependence of farmers on commercial fertilizers. A CFBW unit can process one to two tons of biodegradable wastes and can produce 500 kilos of organic fertilizer in a span of two weeks. It is in line with the National Organic Agriculture Program (NOAP) of the government.

Based on data from the National Solid Waste Management Commission, an estimated 40087.46 tons of waste are generated nationwide per day.  Thus, there is a need to process wastes and to set up facilities near public markets and in residential areas that will convert those wastes into organic fertilizers or composts.

Biodegradable wastes account for 52% of the total waste composition in Metro Manila, 41% for recyclable wastes, and 7% for residual wastes. According to Villar, by processing wastes, LGUs can save funds that will otherwise be used in paying for garbage collection, disposal, and trucking services. On top of that, it will bring LGUs and the country closer in becoming zero-waste as part of the sustainable development goals.

The Solid Waste Management agency of DENR will also follow the lead of the BSWM of DA in giving out composting facilities all over the country to produce organic fertilizer for our farmers and promote proper solid waste management.

“Teaching people how to compost their wastes and providing them with the facilities or equipment to do it resulted in multiple benefits. It’s a win-win situation for agriculture and the environment. It helps farmers save on fertilizer expense and increase their crop production. It keeps the soil healthy, so it is environment-friendly,” said Villar.

Villar SIPAG has also conducted capacity-building trainings on the operations of CFBW. The training program was attended by city agriculturists, municipal agricultural officers, and LGU representatives nationwide. It continues to partner with BSWM in providing training and distributing CFBW to communities nationwide.

Senate Bill to make organic certification cheaper

Healthy and chemical or pesticide-free soil is also the first step towards organic farming, which Villar has also been promoting and providing legislative support to. Although there is a National Organic Agriculture Program (NOAP) is in place, organic has not really gained ample ground in the country. Organic farmers sought Villar’s help in bringing down the cost of certification which is really prohibitive.

Villar authored and filed Senate Bill No. 1318, introduced the Participatory Guarantee System (PGS), a more affordable and accessible certification system for organic products. It will amend Republic Act No. 10068 (The Organic Agriculture Act of 2010) and will provide the much-needed impetus to support the growth of organic agriculture in the country. It was passed on Third Reading in the Senate on June 1.

“We have huge potential in organic agriculture but our local organic farmers are disadvantaged because they cannot have their produce or products labelled as organic due to the prohibitive cost of certification. PGS is the solution to that. It will make them more competitive,” said Villar. Certification ranges from PhP42,000 to PhP150,000 per crop compared to PGS costs only between PhP600 to PhP2,000.

PGS is also widely adhered to and accepted by international organic movements, such as the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement (IFOAM). It is also recognized by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) as a pro-farmer alternative to third party certification.

The new organic law will benefit the estimated 165,958 organic farming practitioners in the Philippines, majority of which are small farmers. According to Villar, it is important for small farmers to be able to afford organic certification because they are the major force in the country’s agriculture sector. They are the key to the success of organic farming in the country and they should be well-equipped and adequately supported in order to compete head-on in seizing the opportunities as demand for organic products continue to rise.

FAO: soil degradation threatens food security

Unsustainable agriculture practices contribute to soil degradation. Soil erosion is one of the major causes of soil degradation and biodiversity loss. It removes the very fertile topsoil and exposes the remaining soil layer. On World Soil Day (WSD) on December 5, the importance of healthy soil and its sustainable management is the key message under the theme “Keep soil alive, protect soil biodiversity.”

According to the FAO, world population is estimated to reach 9 to 10.5 billion by 2050. The health of the soil cannot be ignored if we want to be able to provide food and sustain our soil resources.

FAO also warned about some agricultural practices such as the use of fertilizer and pesticides that damage and deplete the soil’s organic matter that leads to loss of soil fertility and crop damage too. On top of that, it also increases the reliance of farmers on “external inputs” to maintain productivity, which is unsustainable over the long term. Here in the Philippines, there is also the issue of fertilizer scam.

“Ordinary farmers basically need three important things to be able to farm—seeds, water (irrigation), and fertilizer. So, if they can make their own fertilizer, then it would lessen cost and increase their income. That is why I have been encouraging people to compost which they can use as fertilizer,” cited Villar.

Villar added that the Philippines is an agricultural country, thus soils are a very important resource. “It is in our best interest to protect it to ensure a food-secure future for the next generation of Filipinos,” said Villar.

The Senate on Monday passed on second reading a bill that seeks to create a trust fund for coconut farmers in the country through the selling of assets procured through the coco levy fund.

Under Senate Bill No. 1396 or the “Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund Act,” the government is mandated to sell P75 billion of coconut levy assets in the next five years to create a trust fund for coconut farmers in the country.

Sen. Cynthia Villar, chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform and principal sponsor of the bill, said the passage of the measure would benefit the approximately 3.5 million coconut farmers from 68 coconut producing provinces owning not more than five hectares who belong to the poorest sector in the country.

“The coconut farmers are the poorest in the country. They earn only about P1,500 a month. This fund which rightfully belongs to the coconut farmers, should be plowed back to them for their own direct benefit,” she said.

The Senate is expected to pass on third and final reading the coconut levy bill in its session on Wednesday.

Villar also expressed confidence that the enactment of the law will be swift as concerns that caused the veto of the former version of the bill were all addressed.

Villar said that immediately after the enactment of the bill, the Bureau of Treasury shall transfer P10 billion to the trust fund; P10 billion in the second year; P15 billion, third year; P15 billion, fourth year; and P25 billion, fifth year.

P5B of the trust fund will be used upon enactment of the law for the ff. programs. In addition to the programs of the PCA which will be given a separate budget.

• 15% for planting and replanting of hybrid coconut seedlings and  production of hybrid coconut seedlings by the Philippine Coconut Authority

• 5 percent for research and production of hybrid coconut seedlings by the Department of Science and Technology – Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCAARRD);

• 8 percent for the training of coconut farmers and their families as listed in the coconut farmers registry in farm schools through Technical Education and Skills Development Authority and Agricultural Training Institute to be shared equally;

• 5 percent for research, marketing and promotion by the Bureau of Micro Small and Medium Enterprise Development under the Department of Trade and Industry;

• 10 percent to be shared equally for farm improvements through diversification and intercropping with livestock, dairy, poultry, coffee and cacao production by the National Dairy Authority and the Department of Agriculture; Native Animal Program; and High Value Crop Program to be divided equally;

• 10 percent for shared facilities for processing by the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech); to be given to cooperatives. If there’s no cooperative in the town, it will go to LGUs;

• 5 percent for organizing and empowering coconut farmer organizations and their cooperatives under the Cooperative Development Authority;

• 10 percent to be shared equally for the credit programs of the Development Bank of the Philippines and the Land Bank of the Philippines;

• 10 percent for infrastructure development  to be implemented by the, Department of Public Works and Highways in coconut producing LGUs

• 8 percent for Scholarship programs for farmers and their families to be implemented by the Commission on Higher Education;

• 10 percent for health and medical programs for farmers and their families to be implemented by agency created by  the Philippine Coconut Authority, for this purpose;

• 4 percent for crop insurance to be implemented by the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation;

Under the measure, the Philippine Coconut Authority  Board has been reconstituted to compose the Secretaries of the Departments of Trade and Industry, Budget and Management Finance, and DOST and PCA, and three farmer-representatives from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.(###)

Best Practices, Innovative Ideas from Other Countries Can Make Philippine Agriculture More Progressive and Innovative, Says Villar

Senator Cynthia Villar has maximized the benefits from her travels in various parts of the world to better perform her mandate, duties and responsibilities as a legislator and as the managing director of her family’s foundation, the Villar Social Institute of Poverty Alleviation and Governance or Villar SIPAG. 

“As a public official, I get invitations to attend events and to visit cities or projects abroad. I use these travel opportunities to study the best practices of communities, cities and even companies abroad. This helps me in putting together bills or legislations and implementing projects for my advocacies,” said Villar. These educational tours with local government officials is not financed by government but by Senator Villar’s private money.

Farm Tourism Development (France, Taiwan & Thailand/2015 & 2016)

For instance in 2015, while in the process of drafting a bill to encourage agricultural tourism in the country, Senator Villar visited not only farm tourism sites in various parts of the Philippines, but she also made it a point to check out those in other countries such as in Taiwan, Thailand and France. Villar’s first visit in France in July 2015 was upon the invitation of an association of farm schools there. The senator was surprised to know that there are thousands of farm schools in the First World country.

Rungis International Food Market – France

Villar is the primary author and sponsor of Republic Act No. 10816 or the Farm Tourism Development Act of 2016 that is widely praised and credited for boosting agriculture-related tourism in the country. The said law paved the way for an increasing number of farmers, farm owners and farming communities to enjoy the benefits of converting their farms into farm tourism sites. They have multiplied their earning sources—from their crops, from the tourists’ who visit their farm and buy products as well as from the tuition fees of the trainees in their farm schools. 

“In the last four years, since the law was passed, there has been a huge increase in farm tourism destinations all over the country. We published a book (Directory of Farm Schools, Tourist Farms and Learning Sites in the Philippines), from a list of only 386 in its first edition, the number has reached over 2,367in the fifth edition and many are not listed yet,” said Villar.

Among the sites she visited in Taiwan are the Golden Town Leisure Farm Zone, Young Lake Resort, Da-hu Strawberry Winery, Flying Cow Ranch, Taomi Eco-Village, Paper Dome, and Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Corporation. 

Farm Tourism – Taiwan

She also met with Master Cheng Yen, regarded as the “Mother Teresa of Asia” who founded the international humanitarian organization Tzu Chi Foundation. Villar personally thanked her for their help to victims of typhoons Ondoy and Yolanda. Tzu Chi Foundation taught us how to make boats from waste family size pet bottles used to clean the Las Pinas-Zapote River.

with Master Cheng Yen of Tzu Chi Foundation in Haulien, Taiwan

Dairy Tourist Farm – Thailand

“After visiting all the big farm tourism sites, we also went to a small village, the only attraction of the village there are its butterflies and  small restaurants, but tourists go there. So it goes to show, that the site can be simple but successful,” says Villar.

LGU officials thankful to VIllar

Villar also makes it a point to bring along with her a group composed mostly of mayors, governors, congressmen and others who are interested in agriculture and will benefit from the study trip. Many of whom have credited the senator for the turnaround in the agriculture sector in their city or province. For instance, Albay Governor Al Francis Bichara profusely thanked Villar when the province recently won TESDA’s National Kabalikat Award. The governor said in 2017, Villar brought him along with other government officials to tour the best and most modern and state-of-the-art agricultural farm technologies in Israel. He said the trip inspired him “to innovate and adapt, to think global yet local.” He said Albay Farmers’ Bounty Village Farm Schools and Assessment Center was patterned after Israeli ingenuity but Filipino designed. Located in Camalig, Albay, it helps improve the lives of the Albayano food producers through entrepreneurship and farm enterprise capacity-building.

Agri Hydroponics Technology (Israel, 2017)

Villar considers the said trip to Israel as one of the most insightful and memorable too since it made them realize that ingenuity and innovation coupled with technology are just as important as land and water in agriculture. “Israel is mostly desert, they lack water. They have desalination plants in order to have potable water. They don’t have agricultural land. And yet agriculture is thriving, in fact, they export vegetables. It’s about technology. They grow plants using aquaponics or hydroponicsand use desalinated water. Since desalinated water is expensive they use water by droplets, the water controlled by a computer”. Villar has an urban aquaponics project in a poor community in Las Pinas. 

Agri Hydroponics / Dairy – Israel

Cacao (France, 2017/Indonesia, 2018)

In 2017, Villar was part of a Philippine delegation to France, where she visited the headquarters and factory of French chocolate manufacturer Valrhona in Tainl’Hermitage (600 kms from Paris). At the end of the visit, Villar invited the Valrhona officials to visit the Philippines and to source cacao from the country. Valrhona sources cacao from eighteen countries and the Philippines can be one of them. 

Valrhona Chocolates Factory – France

She also studied the cacao industry in Indonesia during her visit there in July 2018. Villar really believes that the country has what it takes be at the forefront in cacao. The Philippines started cacao farming in Asia, it was here where first cacao in the region was planted in 1670 and the country already has commercial production as early as the 1950s. She included cacao planting  as intercrop to coconut in the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund Act (Senate Bill No. 1052)  to be financed by the coco levy fund

Cacao Buying Center of Cargill – Indonesia

“We have to work harder because we cannot even meet our local consumption requirement of 50,000 metric tons. Local supply is only about 12,000 metric tons. Why do we still import cacao and cacao products to serve the local demand? When in fact we are in the best position to fill the supply gap in the world cacao market, because we are a coconut producing country and cacao is intercropping to coconut” cited Villar. According to the roadmap of the Philippine Cacao Industry Council, the goal is to produce 100,000 MT of cacao beans in 2022, both for export and domestic market.

Villar also learned about the sector in her Indonesia trip in Jakarta  and Sulawesi. She saw a very good working model there when she visited a cacao farm owned by a smallholder farmer being trainedby a European NGO. “We also visited the office of American company Cargill in village, where they have a buying station for cacao. Beside the buying station is a Bri bank (Bank Rakyat Indonesia) representative where farmers deposit the proceeds of sales and they borrow from Bri bank. Bribank (Bank Rakyat Indonesia) is the biggest bank in Indonesia, government owned and their portfolio is 80% for small, medium & micro enterprise and yet most profitable.

Bri bank (Bank Rayat Indonesia) Beside the Cacao Buying Center of Cargill

According to Villar, a mere 10 percent share in the world supply can provide a profitable income to the country’s cacao producers. The global demand for cacao products is expected to have reached between 4.7 million to 5 million MT by this year. Meanwhile, the cacao global shortage is predicted at one million metric tons.

Natural ( Organic) Farming France, 2017

Villar also visited the Ferme de la Bourdaisière, a permaculture micro-farm in Montigny-sur-Loire, located on a 1.4-hectare plot behind the Chateau de la Bourdaisière. The farm uses sustainable farming practices. It does not use pesticides or chemical and synthetic fertilizers, has a zero-waste policy, and low energy consumption. Villar said such type of farm could be adapted to the Philippines with farmers having small plots of land and little capital. She now incorporates the said sustainable principles in Villar SIPAG farms and farm schools in Las Pinas, Bulacan, Iloilo and Davao City. It will also solve our problem of 38% degraded Philippine soil and the solution is we compost organic wastes and bring them back to the soil according to UN FAO.

Ferme de la Bourdaisière – France

The senator also visited a 100-hectare wheat farm outside of Paris that left an impression on her because of how it was run by its owner. “It is owned by a young man who runs on his own without any help because his farm is fully mechanized. The farm was from his parents, His other siblings moved to Paris to become a lawyer and an accountant. He runs the farm and takes care of his parents there, too,” recalled Villar, who has been encouraging the Filipino youth to make a career in agriculture since Filipino farmers are already growing old, with age averaging over 57 years old.

Dairy (India 2018/Israel 2017/Thailand 2016)

In India, Villar and her entourage studied the dairy sector since it is the biggest dairy producers in the world. Dairy centers and farms there are mostly run by smallholder farmers and cooperatives. The senator urged the Department of Agriculture through the Philippine Carabao Center and the National Dairy Authority to increase milk production which up to now is at a dismal level of less than one percent of demand.They have two processing plants one owned by the government being supplied by farmers and one owned by dairy cooperative earning billions of dollar.

Dairy Farm – India

In Thailand, the senator was able to see a farm tourism site with a dairy farm. “It’s a 400-hectare farm that has many areas—souvenir stores and restaurants in front a processing area where they make various milk-based products such as milk, popsicles, ice cream etc.; then there’s the farm area where thecows are kept and cared for and then there’s a grass plantation area for the cows’ feeds. It is a one-stop site, fully functional and sustainable. Something that our very own Philippine Carabao Center can be,” said Villar. 

Israel where each cow produces 40 liters of milk everyday because of better quality of cows and better quality of cows food.

“So much to learn out there”

“There is really still so much to learn out there, from other places and people. We can adopt the best practices of others and recalibrate them for our own requirements or circumstances. That is a winning strategy of many successful leaders and businesses, so we can do the same in developing our country’s agriculture. We have all the natural resources, we just have to better utilize them to fulfil our people’s needs and aspirations,” says Villar. 

Some of the other best practices and programs that Villar and the other local government officials that travel with her have studied and learned from their trips are as follows:

• Farmers’ Market: In Japan, they learned about a good model for the so-called farmers’ market where the owner provides the building and the farmers provide all the goods for selling. The owner just gets a percentage of the sale and gives the rest to the farmers;

Conference – Japan

• Hybrid Rice: In Hunan, China, they show the research station –Hunan Hybrid Rice Research Center of Hybrid Rice with Hybrid Rice Expert, Prof Yuan Longping. Yuan Longping (Chinese: 袁隆平; born September 7, 1930) is a Chinese agronomist, known for developing the first hybrid rice varieties in the 1970s.Hybrid rice has since been grown in dozens of countries in Africa, America, and Asia—providing a robust food source in areas with a high risk of famine. For his contributions, Yuan is always called the “Father of Hybrid Rice” by the Chinese media.

Hybrid Rice – China

• Bamboo: In China, they studied about all things bamboo and how they produce so many items, products and materials out of them. They have 20,000 hectares bamboo shoots plantation with bamboo processing beside it. They have state-of-the-art bamboo processing factories. It inspired Villar to put a bamboo processing factory in Las Pinas to help spur the bamboo industry’s growth. Villar also filed Senate Bill 716 or the Bamboo Industry Act to institutionalize the Philippine Bamboo Industry Development Program and strengthen the government’s efforts in encouraging bamboo plantation, research on its development and utilization. Bamboo, she cites, is a good cash crop for Filipino farmers and source of livelihood in poor communities. 

Bamboo Plantation in China

• Green School: In another trip to Indonesia in 2017, they learned about environmental sustainability in a so-called Green School in Bali. The Senator, in her capacity as the chairperson of the Senate Committee for Environment and Natural Resources, toured the school for benchmarking on how to instil a deeper sense of environmental stewardship among Filipinos and on practices pertaining to the proper conservation of natural resources and waste management.

Green School in Bali Indonesia

• Food Fair:  In Germany, Villar attended the Anuga Food Fair in Cologne where she noticed that coco sugar and coco water were the most popular products in the expo, but from other countries and not from the Philippines. Thus, she continues to support the coconut industry through various programs and legislation, so they can produce and market products from coconuts. 

AnugaFair – Cologne, Germany

• Food Security: Villar also attended the World Food Day celebration in Milan, Italy and the 40thPlenary Session of the Committee on Food Security of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization or FAO in Rome where she presented the status of the agriculture and food security in the Philippines.

UN FAO Rome, Italy

• Plastic Recycling: In Mexico, in December 2019, Villar toured Coca Cola’s PETSTAR Recycling Plant Facility in Toluca, Estado de Mexico to study the best practices and benefits of operating a successful bottle-to-bottle recycling system as a viable and strategic solution to address the plastic waste problems. 

Coca Cola Plastic Recycling in Mexico

Villar’s committee is working on amendments to the Solid Waste Management Act of 2010 to institutionalize the practice of Extended Producers Responsibility or EPR, especially in industries that generate plastic wastes. She also established the Villar SIPAG Waste Plastics Factory in Las Pinas for Luzon, San Miguel,Iloilo for Visayas and  Cagayan de Oro City for Mindanao, which turn waste plastics into chairs that are donated to public schools and farms schools all over the country.

To date, there are 2,367 accredited farm schools all over the country that serve as learning sites for farmers and plant enthusiasts who are given the opportunity to train for free on the ways of modern farming.

Included in this roster are four farm schools operated by the Villar Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance (Villar SIPAG). Supported by Sen. Cynthia Villar, the Villar SIPAG Farm Schools have welcomed thousands of trainees and hosted hundreds of training sessions on agriculture-related courses for free. The other farm schools in the country also offer training courses with the support of the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).

“Our farm schools have a special role in our objective to make our farmers and fisherfolk competitive and profitable through training programs that will help them produce more and earn more with the help of modern technology,” Villar said.

The first Villar SIPAG Farm School opened in September 2015. It is located in a 4 hectare lot within the boundary of Las Piñas City and Bacoor City, and is situated beside the Molino Dam.

The second farm school which opened in October 2016, sits in a 4-hectare land in San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan.

Both schools have training areas, dormitories, farm houses and kitchen areas. Also featured are vermi- composting facilities, kitchen waste composting facilities, greenhouse, spaces for livestock production and aquaculture and a cacao plantation under coconut trees.

Before the pandemic, the training program on Agri-Crops Production was held in both farms three times a year. The 3-month course has 12 sessions and has about 200 participants per batch. The culmination of the program was marked by simple graduation rites and a harvest festival.

Conducted in partnership with the East West Seeds Foundation, the agri-crops training program continues in the new normal with modification to properly observe the needed health protocols. For now, only 20 participants are accommodated and young people, the elderly, and those with health issues are discouraged from participating in the program.

The Las Pinas Farm school caters to farmers from the National Capital Region, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon and Bicol Region while the Bulacan Farm caters to farmers in Northern and Central Luzon and the Cordillera Autonomous Region.

Villar also built farm schools in San Miguel, Iloilo and in Davao to cater to farmers in Visayas and in Mindanao, respectively.

The Iloilo farm school opened in January this year with the program Training of Trainers on Production of High-Quality Inbred Rice Seeds and Farm Mechanization. The trainees were 30 farmers from the provinces of Iloilo, Capiz, Negros, Aklan, and Antique.

The farm school is specifically for training the trainers on new farming technology where the graduates are expected to train farmers back in their respective towns.

The Villar SIPAG Farm Schools give free training opportunities to farmers in cooperation with other agencies such as the Farm Business School with the ATI; Rice Seeds Production and Mechanization with PhilRice and PhilMech; Aquaculture Production with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources; Livestock Production with the Bureau of Animal Industry; and cacao production intercropping with coconut with the Philippine Coconut Authority.

The growth of farm schools all over the country was attributed to two pieces of legislation that Villar principally authored: Republic Act 10816 or the Farm Tourism Development Act of 2016, which encourages the conversion of farms into tourist farms and learning sites; and Republic Act 11203 or the law that created the P10-billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund which mandated a special role for farm schools as venues of extension services program.

Villar recently released the 5^th edition of the “Directory of Farm Schools, Tourist Farms and Learning Sites in the Philippines,” which lists 2,367 sites from all 17 regions. The first edition of the book contains 386 farms. ###