Over the last few months I have been very lucky to be able to travel to more remote areas in Mindanao, and sometimes they get bad publicity, sometimes that may be deserved.
But in the main people are great in the Philippines wherever you go.
Over the last few years I have been a friend of a local businessman here in Davao, Mr Bong Domingo, who apart from other things is co owner of the Felis resort, but he will be the first to tell you his heart is more into agriculture.
Now I have no green fingers, and most of what Bong told me went over my head until one day at a party at his house I noticed his small front garden area was full of containers growing vegetables and plants.
Bong, loving everything green, had started what is called “container farming” in his backyard, where any container even old tires, or discarded plastic bottles are used to plant seeds and grow vegetables from just a few seeds. Lets be honest the climate here can make many things grow.
Within a few weeks he found that everything was growing so fast his family could not consume the produce so he started selling to his neighbors who were so pleased to get fresh and grade 1 produce in the middle of the city.
Weeks later he still had too much so he grew the produce for restaurants and businesses, and found that with little work and almost no capital cost, he found he was making a profit on good fresh produce in the middle of Davao city.
He then researched about soils and irrigation and realized that he wanted to help the poorer families in the more remote provinces to yield better produce and to sell them locally and develop some form of cooperatives.
So he spent months researching and making up manuals and PowerPoint presentations to promote and prove his ideas, and after seeking input from a small seed company he found that his ideas were being taken seriously by local leaders and officials.
Remember the average wage in the provinces can be as little as a dollar a day and good produce is too expensive to buy, the good stuff mainly gets moved into the city or bigger towns.
After doing a few “test” seminars he felt it was time to prove it!
So Bong, myself and a couple of friends offered our services to make VCDs and brochures and off we drove for fours hours out of Davao City to Matalam in North Cotababto Province. This beautiful place may not have a supermarket, hotel or any big buildings but the place and its surrounds are full of some of the most hardworking and friendly people in the Philippines.
Bong did his seminar to over 100 people, but we had catered for 50, who come from up to fours away, and in the main were hard working people who really needed a hand up.
Because Bong explained it so well, it was clear that the audience were getting it. The idea of using common rubbish and a hand full of seeds to make it work made eyes wide open and muttering of agreement could be heard in the venue provided by the Mayor.
That to be honest was maybe the easy part as growing them, even for almost nothing was just the beginning . The next part is to make them understand the power of each small area to grow something different. Tomatoes in one, lettuce in another and so on.
This is a difficult to sell as straight away everybody wants to grow everything for their families and friends.
We tried to explain the power of buying and then selling surplus to other areas and then onto markets and the Cities, and setting up a cooperative for deliveries and marketing. Everybody agreed and evryone understood this could work.
There are no promises and risk is always a factor, but for the price of seeds and a collection of rubbish and a little help from nature they understood the potential and what a fantastic community operation it would be.
The surprise!
Well as of time of writing the people all needed to go back to their individual communities and speak more about it.
All we can do is await a phone call or fax, as we have offered to help set up the first one and assist with marketing ideas and more, now its down to their agreement.
I hope that we explained it well enough, because if we did not then we did these people an injustice. I am waiting by the phone.
If you would like to know more than please e mail Bong Domingo.
About John
Great idea John. I think the big thing in any idea or new thing is getting those who you are sharing with to try the new idea or thing and see what happens.For some reason a lot of us as humans resist change and so a lot of us I belive come up short in life…so, sounds like a great plan and idea to help those people and I am sure if some will try and they find out some of the ideas work, then sure many of their friends, relatives and etc will be trying it also.The other neat thing about trying something new is you as a person find out that there are many ways to do things in life and for some this could be the match to lite the candle on to trying lots more new things or ideas, even if all do not pan out..the person is learning something new. So thanks for a great read and hope it turns out to be a great experince for you and sure for those that try and it works out for them will be a wonderfull experince for them.
Hi John,
Great article John, and this is very interesting. So the use of a small area is all that is needed for this? Not sure I understand the use of the discarded items, except to initially grow the plant, but when the plant gets bigger and start yielding fruit or vegetables, where is it planted then??
I was just reading an article about Small-time farmers producing organic crops, with the use of non-pesticide techniques of growing vegetables and fruits. The story came from the Davao area of Tagum City, and is becoming another great way to market your crops and for good money too.
Thanks John,
Danny
Hi John,
Brilliant story,anything that can improve the lives of the poor is very refreshing.
I hope its very successful.
regards Chas.
Dan
Maybe it will not go the way that we plan, however now more knowledge has been passed on it can only do something positive.
Danny
Could you send me the link about Tagum as that may be something I should explore further.
A very small area will work , but we are trying to organise land owned by the city that we can put aside as a sort of showcase that will show what yield can be produced.
We have to convince people to look after it and of course we need to have some form of City security to ensure crops do not disappear.
The use of rubbish like empty bottles not only can start the process, but also in most cases can be used to transport cutttings to neighbours, and those bottles with holes in the bottom can be permanent growing containers.
The point was to show people you can do most things without spending what would be a months wages on plant trays etc,etc.
Chasdv
The frustration here is that everyone can see it is worthwhile, but its difficult to find one who wants to make it start.
Maybe its a cultural thing as its important not to lose face with others if something goes wrong,
Lets face it what’s more important than food
Hi John, A lot of school children have gardening as part of their primary learning in the province, so that must help them in later years have some gardening skills. Most schools that you visit have beautiful vegetable gardens of some sort. I recently visited a barangay school up in the hills of my town, and the children were taught that although the soil was hard and rocky, sweet potatoes or “camote” could be grown in burlap sacks filled with composted soil. The children also eat a lot of the vegetables to supplement the small lunch that they bring to school. I’m going to try to grow some camote that way, because the ones that the children harvested turned out to be big and smooth, with a high yield from each sack.
Hi John. A great contribution. Kind of like teach them how to fish & feed them for a lifetime. ( Kind of a poor comparison in a fishing country) Hard to believe that some would not try this, for chance of failure. Some would rather Keep Face, than eat. Not hungry enough yet, I guess!
This is a great idea and I really hope this will work out right. The idea of feeding the poor comes to mind. I have respect for the urge that you have in helping him to achieve his goal.
Regards,
Adrie
Queeniebee
Yes I agree with you as a matter of survival schools do teach a little about growing Vegetables, but so far I have not come across the container gardening being pushed.
Also , again for survival it seems they grow just enough in the house for themselves and not thinking bigger to produce to sell.
Guy
It is important here not to lopse face, so maybe people make assumptions that if someone else is not doing it, then it cannot work or who an I to do something that others have not.
For example the Sari Sari store here is everywhere, as if one opens another 100 will. so it gets to the point they all make very little money.
Ardie
Good news today is that I heard several of the people who attended have got together to make it happen.
The millionaire Sits down beside the Poorly clothed filippino fisherman to try his luck at fishing. The millionaire sees all the fish that the poor filippino fisherman had caught. The millionaire says to the poor filippino.” you are a very good fisherman”. The poor filippino says ” Yes, but I only fish 4 hrs a day”. The millionaire says if you fish 8hrs. a day you could buy a boat & have many fishermen working for you, & keep expanding from there. You would soon be a millionair, like me & do what ever you want with your time. The humble fisherman looks up & says ” I already am”.
What a great Idea.. I would like to try it myself John! Can you please send me the information or can I buy the Powerpoint.. I Emailed Bong and asked the same. I want to do it myself first and then I want to help the local people in my area. That is when I get a local area.. I am in the middle of getting a hector in the Ormoc area of Leyte. Right now I am retired in Cebu and have been here about three years. But we are going to move to Leyte. Keep up the great work. I hope I can help others while helping my own family too.
God Bless
GUY
Enough said..there is a lot of truth in that Guy
George
I will also get in touch with Bong, but the vcd if we have spare one may not be that great as a stand alone product as it was used as a back up to the people on the day.
However I am sure it will be able to point you in the right direction.
Give me a couple of days to get in touch with you direct
Just Google “container gardening Philippines”there are some good links there.
That IS good news John… I keep my fingers crossed for this great plan to work out well.
Godspeed John.