I’ve learned a lot by trial and error, and I’m starting to pass on what I learned in a pilot project of TAF (The Asian Foundation). The project is called “Coalition for Change in Education” and it’s a 2-months project of BAHRR (Bohol Association of Hotels, Resort and Restaurants), funded by the Australian government. I’m teaching teachers from an agricultural high school in the North of Bohol, and they in turn will be teaching their students and their parents how to plant organic vegetables. If this project will be successful, it will be used as a pilot project and reproduced in other provinces. (Note: After the 2 months finished, officers of the Department of Education and I have met to make a curriculum with the materials from my classes, and it will be included in the Agriculture high school curriculum in Bohol.)
The High School San Pasqual in Ubay, where the project has been launched, has 50 ha land available for planting organic vegetables, with water readily available through collected rain water in a small dam which is then transported via pipes to the farm land. I am teaching the teachers first hand about organic planting, EM (Effective Microorganism), Wood Vinegar & Bokashi, and they will then pass on the teaching materials to their high school students and their respective parents.
The 20 students from grade 11 and some children from lower grades as well as their parents, some of them already farmers, will get the use of some land to plant. The Agriculture Teachers will teach them what they learned in the art of organic farming, and they in turn will plant, grow and take care of the farming. Once the vegetables are ready to be harvested, their produce will be sold directly to hotel, resort and restaurant owners in a distribution center in Lourdes, Panglao. Hence greedy middle man and the monopoly from big companies will be bypassed. A big advantage is the involvement of the community, direct sales through the distribution center in Panglao where hotels, resorts and restaurant owners buy straight; they don't have to go to the market in Tagbilaran: higher income for the farmers, and the bypassing of middle men.