In Passi City, Iloilo, about 50 small-scale rice farmers attended the graduation ceremony on the season-long rice productivity enhancement training, held on 1 August 2018 at Barangay Dalicanan, Passi City. The farmers come from our expansion areas in Barangay Talongonan, Magdungao, Alimono, Salngan and Dalicanan. The training was provided through our partnership with the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and our partner-cooperative in Iloilo, KASAPPI Arc.



Farmers learned how to do block farming for organic rice so that production, post-harvest and processing becomes more efficient. With the expansion of our coverage to remote communities in Iloilo, farmers will have improved leverage by consolidating their production, especially in terms of collectively accessing and/or preparing farm inputs such as organic fertilizer and bio-pesticides. Inspection of farms to make sure that they adhere to organic farming standards is also made easier with block farming.

Read: What does sustainable farming mean to us and our partner farmers?

Two of our partner-cooperators, Isidro and Wilhelm Pama volunteered to develop 2 hectares (1 hectare each) of their land as techno-demonstration farm and rice seed bank. Seeds harvested from this bank can already provide a steady input supply to our expansion areas.

Read: How do we help make change possible?

Download our information packet in sustainable agriculture