“Corn farming is our family tradition and
this is our life.”
Thus, says Renato Frias, 43 years old, a
resident of Purok 3, Barangay Basa, Trento, Agusan del Sur, who owned a 3
hectares farm land.
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| Renato Frias tendering his corn field |
He said that he was nurtured in a farming
environment, that is why despite of his academic achievement as an automotive
mechanic, his love remains in tilling the soil.
“My mother is a farmer who managed to send
us in school through corn farming, so I am following her steps so I can help my
own children in sending them in school too,” Frias said.
Kagawad Renato as fondly called since he
was a former barangay councilor said that aside from corn, he is planting also
various vegetables.
“Upon harvest of corn, I won’t sell
everything right away, I will spare some for value adding so I can sell it on
much higher price for additional income, I would sell it during flea market
every Saturday together with my vegetables,” Frias said.
He said that aside from selling corn
kernel, Kagawad Renato also sells crack corn, corn grits and corn bran.
Aside from his family who help him in the
farm, he hired ten persons mostly his neighbor especially during planting
season, thereby contributing employment on his community.
To be resilient on climate change, he
patterned his planting schedule on weather condition.
“In a year, we are going to plant two times
on corn, the third one will be rice, so we will be harvesting three times to
maximize the time and the weather pattern,” he said.
He also revealed that he is following the
technology he learned during trainings particularly Integrated Pest Management
(IPM).
“I am so grateful to the Department of
Agriculture and to local government unit of Trento, because once, I was hailed
as an outstanding young farmer and an outstanding 4-H of the year and was given
the opportunity to travel to Japan for an 8th month training with
the helped of LGU and Department of Agriculture,” he narrated.
As fruit of his labor, Kagawad Renato was
able to own a farm tractor, a great help in preparing his farm and also serves
his neighboring farms for a minimal fee.
Currently, Kagawad Renato is a cluster
leader in three barangay, the Manat-Basa-Tudela or MABATU corn cluster in the
said town.
“Corn farming is a viable livelihood and a
stable source for family’s income,’ he concluded. (Aurelius P. Arais/DA Caraga)
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