Southeast Asia Regional Initiatives for Community Empowerment
NEWS
Farmers Share their Path Towards Climate Change Resiliency
3 September 2015
Clarin Municipal Mayor Elsa Navarro expressing her support to the efforts of the farmers of Clarin.
A farmer (left) asks one of the speakers, woman-farmer Marina Olar, a question.
Farmers from three provinces in Mindanao shared their individual and collective experiences on various climate adaptation measures in a forum held in Clarin, Misamis Occidental, September 2, 2015.
Entitled, “Sharing the Resilient Path: Forum on Climate Change Adaptation of Farmers and other Stakeholders,” the event provided a venue for a lively and dynamic sharing of experiences between and among farmers on their farming methods and technologies adapted to their local condition.
Marina Olar, a woman farmer from Clarin, shared her experience in using a saline-tolerant rice variety suitable to her farm which is frequently intruded by salt water from a nearby sea.
“My harvests increased when I used this variety,” she said, sharing that her positive experience enticed other farmers in her barangay to use the variety.
James Dulay, agricultural technologist of Arakan, related how their local government has supported the farmers through the LUPA (Luwasnon ug Malamboon nga Umahan Kag Kinaiyahan Pangabuhian sa mga Arakenos) program. The LUPA program enabled the smallholder farmers to convert from conventional farming to organic agriculture through financial and technical support.
Audy Maagad of of the Department of Agriculture (DA) – Region X Field Office provided the synthesis of the discussions.
Atty. Mario Maderazo, policy coordinator of the Southeast Asia Regional Initiative for Community Empowerment (SEARICE) presented how farmers could respond to climate change through innovation and adaptation. With him was Ralph Aldrin Vallesteros, SEARICE project officer.
The forum, sponsored by SEARICE and Earth Net Foundation (ENF), was attended by about 250 participants, mainly farmers from the municipalities of Arakan, North Cotabato; Clarin, Misamis Occidental; and Balingasag, Misamis Oriental; and representatives from local NGOs, the DA, and local government units.
The Municipal Agriculture Office of Clarin, headed by Agnes Butalid, helped organized the event. –MMaderazo
###