A Mechanic Turned to a Farmer

Success Story of
JERRY RAGANAS MORENO

by: Aurell P. Arais

Farming is a golden business enterprise…

This motivates Jerry Raganas Moreno of Brgy. Dugsangon, Bacuag, Surigao del Norte to forget his job abroad and instead focus his attention on farming.

Jerry, 41 years old, happily married to Lolita Tan gifted with three (3) children is a graduate of Automotive Mechanic and Electronics. Due to the demand of his skills abroad, Jerry was able to land a job in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) where he worked for five years and a half (5½).

But on 1997, he received sad news about the death of his father that prompted him to go home. His father leaves his family with a piece of land but nobody wanted to till it, thus Jerry volunteered himself.

At first Jerry find difficulty in cultivating the land. He explored almost all possibilities to increase his production with his 1.8 hectares agricultural land that was due to him but to no avail due to high cost of farm inputs.

Until 2003, Jerry was invited by the Municipal Agriculture Office of Bacuag to attend a seminar on Integrated Bio-System Farming in Butuan City. Upon return, he practiced what he was learned on the seminar especially on formulating and application of Organic Fertilizer to his own rice farm land.

The use of organic fertilizer greatly helps to reduce the cost of farm inputs since he is not going to purchase synthetic chemicals anymore and was identified by MAO as the first person to adopt organic rice farming in the locality.

To share his expertise, he demonstrated to his co-farmers the proper way of producing organic fertilizers utilizing the farm wastes such as rice hull, rice straw, carabao and goat manure and paved the way for an additional source of income-the organic fertilizer.

Jerry said that since he applied organic fertilizer on his farm, his yield has greatly increased that other farmers in the neighborhood were convinced and purchased his produced organic fertilizer. He was able to achieve an average yield ranging from 6.7 to 7.6 tons per hectare.

Jerry said that there are three (3) factors to consider in rice farming for better yield. First is nutrient management through using organic fertilizer, second is water management through maintaining the correct level of water and lastly is pest management.

Aside from rice farming and producing organic fertilizer Jerry devoted his time in planting and caring other crops such as corn, coconut and falcatta utilizing the land of his other brothers and sister.

With his income and expertise on mechanic, Jerry able to purchase an additional 1.0 hectare of land planted with corn and established a rice mill where his wife Lolita manages it.

“For me farming is business, you have to invest your time, effort and system and put your love on it. My secret in success is hardwork, technology and prayers” he smilingly uttered.

Inspired by his three children and very supportive wife, Jerry is willing to devote his entire life on his business…FARMING. (Aurell P. Arais/rafid da caraga)


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