Agriculture.ph Blog

Gawad Kalinga beneficiaries grow their own vegetables

At the Gawad Kalinga Village in Barangay San Andres, Cainta, Rizal, it is not unusual to see families doing their organic vegetable gardening everyday at the 3,600-square meter garden where “pinakbet”- and “chopsuey”-type of vegetables are grown.

These families, numbering 57, are beneficiaries of Bayan-anihan, a food sufficiency program that was officially launched last July 15 by the Gawad Kalinga in partnership with the Department of Agriculture, Selecta, agricultural schools, local government units, non-government organizations, and the youth.

Bayan-anihan aims to help eradicate hunger by empowering poor families to produce their own food through backyard or organic farming, says Tony Meloto, founder of Gawad Kalinga. Likewise, it aims to launch 2,500 farms in the next three years and to continuously feed at least 500,000 people.

Previously, the Bayan-anihan had its soft launching five months ago during which a ceremonial planting was done simultaneously in 115 communities all over Luzon and some areas in the Visayas. As of its official launching, John Marie Concepcion, Selecta’s CEO and managing director, said that Bayan-anihan has already produced 41 metric tons of harvest which fed more than 17,000 people.

How do they do it? Mike N. Dimagiba, executive director of Bayan Anihan Foundation, Inc. said that every family is given a 10-square meter plot where they can grow vegetables, rootcrops, and culinary or medicinal herbs the organic way. The farmers are provided with fertilizers and open-pollinated seeds so that they can replant without the need to buy new stocks of seeds for their next crop.

Of course, the participants are also provided with continuous training and education to keep them updated on the latest farming technology.

In San Andres where there are 94 homes built by Gawad Kalinga, the 57 families that participated in Bayan-anihan no longer buy vegetables from outside. Now, each family can have a regular supply of vegetables harvested from their 10-square meter plot provided by the Diocese of Antipolo.

One of them is Billy Leones who said that they now have continuous supply of vegetables on their table. Leones is among the first group of farmers who were sent to Pangasinan for a 6-day training on vegetable production.

Fely Caparino, a 46-year old housewife also from San Andres Gawad Kalinga, has been religiously tending to her plot where she planted kangkong, eggplant, sitao, tomatoes and okra. From these, she harvests an equivalent to a day’s meal every other day, and, sometimes, every three days.

The same is true with 56-year old Erlinda Kamantigue who makes additional money from the sales of her excess produce. She said that a week prior to our visit, she had almost a kilo of excess eggplant which she sold to her neighbor.

When asked how they find farming in Gawad Kalinga Village, the beneficiaries said they are learning to appreciate organic farming through Bayan-anihan. They apply their plants with organic fertilizer. They also practice mulching with rice straws and plant residues to conserve moisture, suppress weeds and enrich the soil when these materials decompose.

To control pests, they manually collect and destroy affected plant parts. They also spray a concoction of dissolved detergent and chili extract which they have proven effective and economical aside from being environment-friendly.

Dimagiba stressed, however, that the 10-square meter farming model is just the initial phase of Bayan-anihan. Eventually in the near future, it shall include small-scale farming, integrated farming, and later on, the establishment of cooperatives.

Written by Melpha Abello

Source: Manila Bulletin

Quirino women make money from ‘tilanggit’

DIFFUN, Quirino—Rural life can sometimes be monotonous for ordinary housewives. Tending to the kids, preparing meals, some occasional income-generating ventures—housekeeping in general.

But it is no longer the case for Julie Salum and other members of the Diffun Farmers Livelihood Association (DFLA). The group and two other associations in Quirino can now look forward to more fulfilling days with the tilanggit processing project awarded to them by the labor department and other government agencies.

Taking their cue from danggit—the popular dried rabbit fish from Cebu—tilanggit is a similar product made from juvenile or small-size tilapia.

According to Dr. Jovita Ayson, regional director of the fisheries bureau in Region 2, tilanggit was conceived after fish farmers wanted something out of their undersized tilapia which were stunted either as a result of calamities or poor culture management.

“Processing undersized tilapia into tilanggit offers a great way for fish farmers to recover investment on an otherwise losing venture,” Ayson said.

However, given the growing popularity of tilanggit, various agencies are now trying to promote grow-out technologies for tilapia solely for tilanggit production.

The Quirino farmers are one of the very first in the region to undertake tilanggit production.

After being identified as beneficiaries under a P1.2-million livelihood grant from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) earlier this year, the three associations underwent training sometime in March.

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) in the region provided counterpart in the form of training on tilapia grow-out and tilanggit production, and through the provision of 600,000 pieces of postfry tilapia to fish farmers belonging to the DFLA, Palacian Food Processors Association and the Villa Pagaduan Multi-Livelihood Association.

Equity was likewise provided by the Palacian Economic Development Association Inc. (Pedai), a nongovernment organization copartner.

As per agreement, fish-pond owners belonging to the three associations shall raise tilapia on a  staggered basis such that continuous availability of raw materials will be ensured.

Just like in normal tilapia culture, production of raw material for tilanggit can be in various management methods. As such, growth rate and culture period are dependent on size of fingerlings stocked and feeding regime.

Comparing to the recommended stocking rate of five fingerlings per square meter for semi-intensive tilapia culture, stocking rate for tilanggit production can be much higher since stocks are to be harvested in a short time and are not meant for market size.

According to BFAR Region 2 extension division chief Hermogenes Tambalque, size 17 (0.56 to 1.5 grams) tilapia stocked at 10 pieces per square meter with supplemental feeding will take about 45 days to reach the recommended size of 50 grams or less for tilanggit production.

“One advantage of grow-out production for tilanggit is shorter turn-around and potentially higher income compared to normal tilapia production, especially if the farmer will process the raw material himself,” Tambalque said.

Citing a presentation from Dan Arriesgado of Mindanao State University at Naawan, Misamis Oriental, Dr. Jinnie Mamhot of the Northern Luzon Aquatic and Marine R&D Zonal Center based in San Fernando, La Union, said stocking density for tilanggit production can be as high as 50 to 150 pieces size-17 fingerlings per square meter.

Mamhot said artificial aeration and frequent water change is necessary for this culture system. Feeding rate (commercial feeds and rice bran) is computed at 5 percent to 7 percent of average body weight at start of the culture period down to 2 percent to 3 percent at the end of a three-month cycle.?Harvest weight using this system is 25 to 30 grams.

Salum, who was already a tilanggit processor before joining the association, said she used to buy stunted (bansot) tilapia at P40 per kilo.

Tilanggit is essentially dried fish that can be enhanced with various flavors. Salum said drying usually takes seven hours of good sunlight plus another hour the following day to eliminate extra moisture, after which the dried fish can be packed.

With the availability of mechanical dryer awarded by the DOLE, Salum said drying time is shortened to about 1.3 hours.

“With this equipment, we can process tilanggit even during rainy days,” she said.

As per the first processing run conducted by the association, their raw materials weighing 44 kilograms shrank to about 26.5 kilos when cleaned (with bones) and 5.5 kilos when dried. The association sells a 50-gram pack at P35 each.

Salum said Pedai and the Department of Trade and Industry are in charge of marketing.

“This project is beneficial. We can be more productive, instead of spending time being idle,” said Charita Tilles, also a member of the association.

Written by Rosenda B. Alluad

Source: Business Mirror

NGOs urge govt to promote organic farming

ALARMED by the poor performance of the agriculture sector, a consortium of nongovernment organizations promoting organic farming in the Philippines urged the government to implement programs that will help increase food production to mitigate hunger and help fight poverty in the countryside.

Aside from the different support services that the Department of Agriculture (DA) and Department of Agrarian Reform normally provide to farmers to help boost agricultural production, Efren Moncupa, a lawyer and lead convenor of Go Organic! Philippines, said government programs that offer a lasting solution to farmers’ woes should be prioritized.

In particular, he said the DA should promote sustainable agriculture through organic farming, which does not only promote sustainable agriculture, but helps fight global warming and climate change.

To start with, organic farming does not require big capital, said Moncupa, a former agrarian-reform undersecretary.  It actually helps reduce greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions, he said.  GHG is a major contributor to global warming.  Agriculture contributes 30 percent to the total GHG emitted into the atmosphere.

According to Moncupa, organic farming is key to sustainable agriculture, as it helps farmers veer away from the excessive use of chemical fertilizers.

Organic farming makes use of indigenous materials that can be found in farms to produce plant-growth boosters which farmers can use in lieu of the expensive chemical fertilizers currently utilized in conventional farming.

Moncupa expressed alarm over reports that the agriculture sector grew by a slower rate of 2.02 percent in the first quarter and that the trend will unlikely improve because of a number of factors, among them climate change.

The government has forecast agriculture production will rise 4 percent this year, nearly the same pace as last year’s when output rose 3.9 percent.

“The government needs to address this food-security concern as soon as possible. If the agriculture sector continues with its poor performance, the Philippines is facing yet another serious food crisis,” Moncupa said.

Climate change, which has triggered supertyphoons, severe flooding and even drought, adversely affects agricultural production as natural calamities destroy hundreds of hectares of farms, thereby resulting in huge losses on the part of farmers.

Abrupt change in weather patterns as a result of climate change makes it more difficult for farmers when to plant or harvest their crops, thereby adversely affecting farm-production output.

Aside from climate change, Moncupa blamed the agriculture sector’s poor performance to the high cost of doing business in farms. Fertilizer prices, he said, remain high and farmers barely have enough money for their families’ three square meals a day.

Roland Cabigas, managing director of La Liga Policy Institute and a convenor of Go Organic! Philippines, said government programs should be geared toward building the individual and collective capacities of farmers to produce organic fertilizers and eventually, shift to organic farming.

He said more farmers are willing to learn how to produce and use their own organic fertilizer, realizing the many benefits of going organic.

Aside from an increase in the farmers’ income, organic farming also promotes better health and safer environment for all.

“The DA should continue to implement its programs to train more farmers on various organic-farming systems and technologies,” he said.

Written by Jonathan L. Mayuga

Source: Business Mirror

SM Foundation unveils opportunities to farmers

MANILA, Philippines – In 2007, SM Foundation Inc. opened the eyes of sugar farmers of Bacolod City to planting high value crops like fruits and vegetables that could be sold to suppliers of about 100 SM supermarkets, hypermarkets, Save More stores and Makro stores all over the country.

It launched in Bacolod its first livelihood program called Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan Farmers’ Training (KSKFT) program under SM Foundation Inc. executive director Deborah Pe-Sy. Since then, the KSKTC has gone to Cavite, Batangas, Laguna, Pangasinan, Pampanga, Naga, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro and Davao – with the trainees required to have lots of about 150 to 200 square meters in their backyards to replicate their learning from the training programs.

Last week, amid very strong rains and winds, the 216 (of the original 220) remaining farmer-trainees harvested the fruits and vegetables of their 60-day (weekend) courses in the erstwhile paddy farms of Tanza, Cavite to bring home to their families, relatives and neighbors.

“We expect that when they return to their homes and farms, they will be adopting the technologies they have learned from the training program-under the hands-on guidance of Arsenio “Toto” Barcelona of Havest Agribusiness Corp. – and pool themselves and their output together to sell to the suppliers of SM, thereby transforming themselves into self-styled entrepreneurs,” Sy said.

The idea of reaching out to the farmers – the suppliers of food products in the market – was broached by SM founder, Henry Sy Sr. who said “I would like to have a serious project that will directly help the Filipino farmers.”

My father then talked directly to ‘Toto” Barcelona asking him to teach the farmers new farming technologies that they could easily adopt in their farms and which will bring the better income from their efforts and improve their quality of life, she added.

Two modules wee used: a once a week session that entailed both classroom briefings on technology and hands-on field practice and a trainors’ training course which gives farmers- turned- trainors an intensive daily practice for the program’s sustainability. The trainors will then conduct field extension services to other farmers.

The training covers extensive topics like site selection, land preparation, seed handling and seed culture, crop management, fertilization, irrigation, pest and disease control, fruit selection, harvesting, post harvest handling and marketing. The farmers are also taught basic bookkeeping, accounting and simple back office operations to make them adept at handling their own businesses, said Cristie Angeles, project director of outreach programs of SM Foundation.

Between 2007 and now, some of those trained have left their comfort zones and ventured into new skills and lines of businesses, which SM Foundation has hoped to happen. One group of farmer-trainees in Umingan, Pangasinan put up a nursery (partly funded by their mayor) and bought a carburetor that will be used to produce their own carbonized rice hull.

Another group of trainees from Valladolid, Negros Occidental is now producing year-round vegetables like ampalaya, balatong, upo, kalabasa, alugbati, saluyot and camote tops.

The training has empowered the farmers and gave them self confidence that they would not have otherwise developed had they stuck to mono-crop farming of rice, corn, sugarcane, coconut or others, said Angeles.

Written by Rose Dela Cruz

Source: Philippine Star

BULA, Camarines Sur—The 426 farmers here who benefitted from the government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) and banded themselves together through organic farming 18 years ago is now a multiawarded, multimillion-peso cooperative.

With the over 817 hectares of mostly hilly and rolling pasture land, Pecuria Development Cooperative Inc. (PDCI) continued to evolve and its members amassed over P26 million in total assets while keeping a net surplus of more than P2.4 million and a subscribed capital share of P1.5 million.

Apart from that, the cooperative expects about P8 million in yearly income from the sale of organic rice—its major product—that commands a handsome price through its outlets of leading supermarkets in key cities nationwide.

The cooperative also produces bio-organic fertilizers out of rice straw, chicken dung and carbonized rice hull, and sells pro-organic garden soil and compost fungus activator. Recently, PDCI ventured into broiler production through contract-growing arrangement with Bounty Fresh Corp.

It is also entered into other income-generating activities like agro-forestry, nursery-keeping, and bamboo, vegetable and other alternative crop production.

As part of its service to members, PDCI offers animal dispersal and production activities, commodity and cash loans.

The cooperative provides a social health program bundled with hospital care, medicines through its self-operated drugstore and herbal garden, health-care loan and burial and death benefits for members and their families.

“Indeed, this is one of the few success stories that we can attribute to the implementation of the government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law during the past 21 years,” Emily Bordado, the Public Information Officer of the Department of Agriculture  regional office based in nearby Pili town, told the BusinessMirror on Monday.

The land lies on a rustic cluster of hills and vast undulating pasture here in barangay Lanipga—formerly known as the Union Agricula y Pecuria del Sur de Luzon, or simply Pecuria—a hacienda-type animal ranch which operated from 1952 to 1985 under the ownership of a wealthy Filipino-Spanish landlord.

In 1988, because of external threats and internal unrest, the property was placed under CARP’s voluntary offer to Sell scheme.

What followed was a struggle for control among farmer groups with members claiming the rights as beneficiaries.

After over three years, the Department of Agrarian Reform  that served as the arbiter found a win-win solution to the conflict through the organization of the Peoples Coalition for Unity and Agrarian Reform Integration Action, which was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 5, 1991.

Eventually, the organization became the PDCI and registered with the Cooperative Development Authority  on September 30, 1991.

Sixteen years after its birth as a cooperative and agriculture producer, PDCI has made a name on its own and carved a niche in the agriculture sector as a successful organization advocating for sustainable and ecologically sound farm practices.

“It demonstrates that farming is indeed a profitable enterprise,” Bordado said.

The cooperative built the capability of each member and their families toward a productive and sustainable community through principled partnership, efficient and effective organization and farm-resource management, she said.

PDCI used most of the tillable land of the 817.33-hectare property for agriculture production using organic technology. Over 733 hectares were devoted to various crops such as rice, sugar cane, vegetables, rootcrops, fruit trees, agro-forest and bamboo.

More than 120 hectares of irrigated area is planted with organic rice and 10 hectares of nonirrigated area with upland rice.

Some 543 hectares are planted with sugar cane, 30 hectares with bamboo, 20 hectares with fruit and agro-forest trees, 5 hectares with vegetables and another 5 hectares with rootcrops.

Cooperative manager Miller Bicaldo said the group’s decision to embrace organic farming technology was influenced by the concepts and ideals of producing healthy food, use of environment-friendly methods and less production cost introduced by nongovernment organizations that helped PDCI.

Written by Danny O. Calleja / Correspondent

Source: Business Mirror

When I watched this documentary film about world coffee trading, It’s not just in the Philippines we have unfair trading but almost everywhere

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8r4Fut8cvM

Watch the whole movie by searching Black Gold Movie in YouTube.com (Part 1-8)

A B’laan clan here, crawling in poverty for decades, finally strike their first million pesos recently. No, they didn’t hit a gold mine or portion of the fabled Yamashita treasure supposedly hidden at the lush foliage of Mt. Matutum, the landmark peak in the province. The cash, nearly two million pesos, came from planting pineapples.

But it was a tough struggle for the Latimban clan before raking in such money as they have to face a virtual Goliath in the persona of giant firm Dole Philippines Inc. (Dolefil).

Maria Latimban, the clan leader, recalled that Dolefil was their worst enemy as the company planted pineapples to the 17-hectare property owned by their ancestors at Barangay Maligo, here. “There was a time that clan members even laid their bodies on the ground to prevent the firm’s equipment from entering our area to plant pineapple,” she disclosed. At one point also, one of the clan members who could not bear the situation of seeing their land in the hands of others absorbed a mental shock and was brought to a mental asylum.

Dolefil planted pineapple at their land because of a rent contract with the Dolefil Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Cooperative, Inc. Asserting their rights, Latimban said the clan, even without money, decided to embark on a legal battle that eventually turned to their favor. The courtroom battle was actually between the Latimban clan and five other clans who have been awarded the land owned by the ancestors of Ms. Latimban, by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples.

The five other clans became Darbci members and had the land under the cooperative. Dolefil and the cooperative eventually reached a rent scheme. Latimban said they were angry at Dolefil because the Latimban clan was not getting anything from the land they claimed were theirs.

Jim Villacorta, Dolefil director for agriculture operations, said they advised at the time the Latimban clan to iron out the land ownership problem before the firm would deal with them. In 2005, after a long and tough battle, the ancestral land was legally awarded to the Latimban clan. Shortly thereafter, the enemies became friends, as the Latimban clan approached the company and expressed interest to become pineapple growers.

Last month, in a simple ceremony at Dolefil’s sprawling plant here, the clan received the fruits of their partnership with the firm. It takes some two years before pineapple can be harvested from the time of planting.

A symbolic giant check was personally awarded by Villacorta to Latimban, as some clan members watched in near tears and others beamed with pride. “It’s our first-million-pesos check,” said Virgie Illaga, a clan member and the one who suffered a mental breakdown at the height of the land contest.

Illaga said the check, which was immediately encashed and deposited at a local bank, would be divided among 12 clan members. “Most of the money will be use to send our children to school. We don’t want them to be uneducated like us the elders,” she said. Villacorta said the top management decided to fete the Latimban clan with recognition as an “outstanding grower” due to the legal and emotional battle they have successfully hurdled.

“They have been in too much distress and it is just fitting to recognize their efforts,” he added. Villacorta said that by planting pineapple, the clan earned at least P73,000 per hectare for the plant crop cycle (two years), compared to the P6,000 to P10,000 per hectare per year if the land is planted to corn.

The plant crop cycle is the first cycle for pineapple harvest. The second cycle is called ratoon, which can be harvested 14 months after the plant crop harvest. After the ratoon cycle, the pineapple plants will be replaced for a new cycle. Dole finances the expenses and buys the harvests. Villacorta said for the plant crop cycle, 20 percent of the yield is sold in fresh form and the rest are processed. It is five percent fresh for the ratoon cycle.

He, however, noted that in total the earnings of the Latimban clan could have reached about P3 million, as the firm had decided to generally refrain from using mechanical equipment in the clan’s pineapple farm. Villacorta said about P1 million has been shelled out for manual labor, including weeding, harvesting and other farm works.

About 30 members of the clan worked manually in the 17-hectare pineapple farm which has a gross income of P4.5 million during the period, Mr. Villacorta said. “They get paid for their labor.” Some P1.5 million worth of fertilizers and other farm inputs have been consumed for growing the crop at the land of the Latimbans, he added. “Earning [a net of] about P2 million is impossible [with the size of your farm] if not for you working at the break of dawn until sunset,” he told the clan members.

Latimban gave assurances to the company that they would not pull out their lands from its contract-growing scheme, as the venture proves to be economically sound to the clan. While she vividly recalled a past incident in the 1970s wherein their corn fields were eaten up by cows, Latimban said they are looking at the future with optimism now that they have their lands planted with pineapple. “These lands we can rightfully and proudly call our own,” she said.

Source: www.sunstar.com.ph

Salt Technology

PERHAPS one of the most well-known organic farming technologies developed for the uplands today is the Sloping Agricultural Land Technology (Salt) which the Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center (MBRLC) Foundation Inc. is heavily promoting.

The uplands are rolling to steep areas where both agriculture and forestry are practiced on slopes ranging upward from 18 percent. The sloping uplands occupy about 55 percent of the country’s total land area of 30 million hectares.

“Salt is basically a method of growing field and permanent crops in three meter to five-meter wide bands between contoured rows of nitrogen fixing trees and shrubs (NFT/S),” explained Roy C. Alimoane, the MBRLC director.

In Salt farming, the use of commercial fertilizer is no longer needed. The NFT/S is thickly planted in double rows to make hedgerows. When a hedge is 1.5 to two meters tall, it is cut down to about 40 centimeters and the cuttings (tops) are placed in alleyways to serve as organic fertilizers.

When the technology was still in its developing stage, the MBRLC used the leaves of ipil-ipil (Leucaena leucocephala) as its main source of fertilizer for the crops grown in the farm. Every year, ipil-ipil produced 36,080 kilograms of green leaves and stem per hectare with the following NPK equivalents: 258.5, 120.2, and 90.1.

But in the late 1980s, ipil-ipil suffered from the attack of psyllid (Heteropsylla cubana). With this infestation, the MBRLC started intensive testing for the different nitrogen-fixing species they had collected through the years. Among those that have the same as that of ipil-ipil are Flemingia macrophylla, Desmodium rensonii, and Indigofera anil.

Alimoane recommends planting all three instead of just one species. “As in organic concept, the more species, the better,” he said.

If the recommended species are not available, farmers can still use ipil-ipil but should be planted with other local species available in their area like kakawate.

Salt is sort of a diversified farming system. Rows of permanent crops like cacao, coffee, citrus and other fruit trees are dispersed throughout the farm. The strips not occupied by permanent crops are planted alternately to cereals (corn, upland rice, sorghum, etc.) or other crops (sweet potato, melon, pineapple, etc.) and legumes (soybean, mung bean, peanut, pigeon pea, and winged bean, among others).

“This cyclical cropping provides the farmer some harvest throughout the year,” Alimoane said. In addition, the practice also discourages pest infestations. As crops are healthier and sturdy, they don’t use pesticides in their Salt farm.

The thin layer of earth we call topsoil is essential to land’s fertility. Typically, only some 15 centimeters deep, topsoil is a rich medium containing organic matter, minerals, nutrients, insects, microbes, worms and other elements needed to provide a nurturing environment for plants.

“It takes thousands of years to build one inch of topsoil but only good strong rain to remove one inch from unprotected soil on the slopes of mountains,” Alimoane claims.

A six-year study conducted at the MBRLC farm showed that an upland farm tilled in the traditional manner erodes at the rate of 1,163.4 metric tons per hectare per year. A Salt farm erodes at the rate of only 20.2 metric tons per hectare per year in the same period.

Computed, the rate of soil loss in a Salt farm is 3.4 metric tons per hectare per year, which is within the tolerable range. Most soil scientists place acceptable soil loss limits for tropical countries like the Philippines range of 10 to 12 metric tons per hectare per year.

In comparison, the non-Salt farm has an annual soil loss rate of 194.3 metric tons per hectare per year.

“As a sustainable farming system, SALT replaces ugly eroded and denuded slopes with the luxuriant beauty of abundant vegetation,” pointed out
Alimoane.

Written by: Henrylito D. Tacio

Source: www.sunstar.com.ph

May 2001, marked the 1st National Goat and Sheep Congress in Nueva Ecija. The provincial associations organized in 2001 and prior led to the formation of the Federation of Goat & Sheep Producers Associations of the Philippines, Incorporated (FGASPAPI).  The newly formed Federation consolidated our country’s goat and sheep raisers and served as the unified voice of the Small Ruminant Industry.  The appreciation of the economic potentials of these humble animals created the current market situation described as a “seller’s market.” FGASPAPI is recognized as the official representative of the small ruminant industry, it is an active conduit in the development and implementation of programs of the Department of Agriculture. FGASPAPI is also a member of the Livestock Development Council and National Agriculture and Fishery Council.

In line with the goal of unifying and strengthening the goat and sheep industry, we would like to invite you or your association  to join the Federation, with main objectives as follows:

•    To provide members with breeder animals with good genetic makeup whenever available.

•    Expand and strengthen the marketing network of the small ruminant industry ,

•    Consolidate our voice in the industry, the Federation being organized by the Department of Agriculture as the umbrella organization to represent the Goat & Sheep Industry,

•    To conduct series of goat and sheep seminars.

•    Promote camaraderie and fellowship among commercial and small hold goat and sheep raisers, breeders, and product and service providers for the small ruminant industry.

Website: http://fgaspapi.com/

This is the main club that represents the whole Philippines and meets on the first Saturday of every month at 2 pm at the Barangay Hall of Horseshoe Village, Sunset Drive, Quezon City, Philippines. The Philippine Bonsai Society also holds annual exhibitions; publishes a bonsai magazine twice a year that contains educational articles, pictorials, how-to-do and listings of plant for bonsai care; and a directory of reliable and legitimate bonsai artists and experts.

PHILIPPINE BONSAI SOCIETY
201 FMSG Bldg., 9 Balete Drive,
Quezon City
Fely Gupit Ph: (63-2) 721-7818

Source: www.bonsai-in-asia.com