The musings of a wandergeselle about faith, literature, music, dancing, culture, food, travels, art, fashion, photography, life experiences, and everything in-between from journée to journée.
Yes, this Mama Hen is a chicken and refused to go back to her previous owner. She’s probably scared of being court-martialed for going on mutiny and being sentenced to death by grilling.
Rogue Chicken
I’ve been shooing and chasing her around the yard a hundred times (that would be precisely 100 steps), but to no avail. She keeps on coming back and even chooses to lay her eggs under our garden plants.
There’s something about the numbers “7” & “8” lately.
So, I asked her to get to the bottom of it all:
Me: Are you scaredy cat?
Mama Hen: Well, obviously not. I’m just a chicken.
😂😂😂
To be honest, we’ve already asked the neighbors if the chicken’s theirs, and they said “no.” So we just decided to keep her and her 7 eggs if ever they hatch.
The chickenthat came from nowhere.
I already ordered a chicken net online for the old chicken coop (used previously as a turtle’s cage) that we have here, so her future chicks won’t be scaredy cat of being eaten by real cats.
It looks like this Mama Hen was sent as an unexpected blessing because poultry farming is also one of the projects that we plan to pursue and integrate into our farm. I already created a business plan for it, I’m just waiting for God’s perfect time when to start if it is indeed part of His plans.
Mama Hen chose this perfect spot to lay her eggs.It’s just challenging to “redesign” her cage. But glad to see she’s all dry even during rainy days.
So, Mama Hen should really chicken out because she will be my very first case study for backyard poultry farming. Though I think the probability of her becoming a dearly beloved pet is 99.9%. 😉
Do you think Oyster Mushrooms can prevent the growth of breast cancer cells? This question just popped into my head now that I’m starting to be conscious of what I eat because I’m already at a high risk for breast cancer.
All we ever know about mushrooms is that they are a great alternative to meat, especially if you’re watching your cholesterol levels. I did my research and I found a study on Oyster Mushrooms and their role in preventing breast cancer and colon cancer.
This wasn’t my original purpose actually why I started growing Oyster Mushrooms here at home. I wanted to learn how to grow them as part of the basic survival training I am doing in preparation for any massive disaster.
Oh so white, so pure. ❤
If ever I see this type of mushroom while foraging, then I would know that it’s edible. And if my survival tools are still complete, I’ll try growing the mycelium.
This is what I want to try now, but the process requires sterilizing the tools and equipment constantly while collecting mushroom spores and putting them in the fruiting bags. Btw, I got the mushroom fruiting bags from Pinong Farm.
The fruiting bags are about 1 foot long each, quite bigger than the ones commonly sold in other online stores. I have been able to harvest thrice already, and I am expecting more harvests since the mycelium is still forming out of the fruiting bag.
How To Grow A Mushroom In A Fruiting Bag
A lot of people who’ve tried mushroom farming say that growing mushrooms is very easy. You won’t need soil, pesticides, and fertilizers to grow them. In my experience, however, it’s not really that easy. Here are some reasons why.
1. Room Temperature
Fruiting bags need the right amount of moisture to encourage mycelium growth. Too much moisture in the environment will trigger mold growth, and if the environment is too dry, there will be no mushroom growth at all.
2. Constant Misting
We live in a coastal area, so there are days when the weather is too dry. When this happens, I would notice that the mycelium grows very slowly. Whereas if the fruiting bags are always moist, tiny fruits grow really fast.
3. Avoid Contamination
Everything that you use for growing mushrooms always has to be sterilized. Make sure to wash your hands when harvesting fully grown mushrooms. And also remove any remaining stem parts to give way to new mushrooms.
4. Pest Control
Rats love to take a bite at them. For safety purposes, discard the rest of the mushroom that has a rat bite. It is also best to keep the environment clean to avoid contamination.
5. Patience Is Key
The first fruits take some time to come out, around 25 days. So it will really test your patience. But when you do see the first fruits, it will be love at first sight. 😍
You can then start harvesting your mushrooms 3-5 days after they come out. I’ve tried cooking them as adobo mushrooms, but fried mushrooms that are coated with Crispy Fry are my favorite.
First mushroom harvests. ❤
Fried Mushroom / Mushroom Chicharon
Even my Dad was astonished after trying the Mushroom Chicharon for the first time. He said that the fried mushrooms do taste like real chicharon or pork cracklings. 😃
Meanwhile, here’s a video of my little mushrooms. Do watch it on full-screen mode for a more up close look. Aren’t they lovely? ❤️
Have you also tried growing mushrooms? I’d love to know your experience in the comments box below. 👇
“Whoever has ears, let them hear.” – Matthew 11:15
For Dad, it’s the literal meaning. I’m so grateful that he’s finally agreed to wear hearing aids after decades of convincing. lol Ah yes, never underestimate the power of persistent persuasion.
Speaking of persuasion, I get to use it a lot in my line of work (advertising), and also here in my blog (in case you didn’t notice 😉). But objections are very much welcome – more diverse minds, more POVs.
I would’ve loved to accompany Dad today at the Bicol Ear & Hearing Center in Legazpi City along with my brother and 3rd sister. Unfortunately, Dad had a task for me at the farm. Because I’m a self-proclaimed farm girl daw. So, dapat panindigan. 😀
This is not your regular grass, but it’s wild. I chose it for foraging purposes, but not for human consumption. I know, it doesn’t make sense. lol But only for now. More deets in my succeeding articles.
I will be posting more often here since I’m reactivating all of my social media channels for upskilling purposes. And I hope to learn new ideas from the WP community. I’m lovin’ the new feature, btw. I can’t wait to answer the prompts for better community engagement. Great job, WP! 👍👍
Here’s something to beat the Monday blues:
Let’s dance to the beat, shall we? ❤
P. S. I can’t wait for Dad to try out his new hearing aids 2 weeks from now when we get them at the center. 🙏
We all have this picturesque dream of living on a farm someday – an escape from the chaos of the city. Yes, it is indeed a beautiful dream, but it can also be a nightmare if you are unprepared.
Farming is a calling. It is not for everybody, and it is not a walk in the park. It is also not just about growing crops, harvesting, and selling them. Or putting up a homestead as “bahay bakasyunan” and everything will go well.
To help you decide if a farm life will best suit your needs or not, here are some of the disadvantages of living on a farm based on my observations and the challenges we have encountered:
Security of the Area
I placed this as the top priority among the farm tasks. Now that inflation and global economic recession are likely to worsen in the coming years as experts predicted, anything on your farm is of value to anyone who does not have them. Trespassers and stealing will be a common challenge at the farm.
Just recently, may mga umakyat ng bakod namin dito sa main house in broad daylight to harvest our rambutan. To think na nasa poblacion ito at hindi sa bukid, we have 3 guard dogs pa, and andito lang din kami sa bahay. Pina-blotter namin sa barangay dahil may mga kapitbahay na nakakita sa kanila.
Sa bukid naman maraming constant na trespassers at paguwi ay may mga dalang ni-forage nila galing sa mga tanim sa loob ng farm. Nanakawan din ang farm house namin ng sink, mga pinto, etc. back when walang nakatira doon.
You might want to read articles re trespassing laws in the Philippines to get tips on what to do if ever you encounter a similar issue.
Barbed wire fences don’t offer much as deterrents, but are only useful as land markers to delineate boundaries. If you want to keep your farm secure, you have to invest in electric fences (quite expensive especially if you need to cover lots of ground area), CCTV cameras (lots of them), and other anti-theft devices.
Know the Surrounding Community
What type of community surrounds your property? If you plan on living at a farm after retirement, will your family move in there with you? Because if not, it might be too risky to live there alone or with just your spouse when both of you are senior citizens already.
Who else will you be living there with aside from your parents? Are your children willing to relocate and transfer homes, especially if they grew up in the city?
It’s best if you have neighbors whom you can call for help during emergencies. They are also the best persons to ask re the topography of the land especially if they lived there for quite some time already.
Assess the Area for Water Sources & Electricity Connections
A farm needs to have a reliable water source if the area is not yet covered by your local water provider. If the property is located near a river, make sure the river doesn’t dry up during the summer season. Also, is it near the main power lines? Kasi kung malayo pa, ang mahal mag-invest sa solar panels.
Determine Flood-Prone Areas
A river near your farm is a good water source, but rivers can also pose a serious threat during heavy rains and excessive flooding. You will incur more crop losses if the river near your farm is one of the major rivers in the area where all surface runoffs from the surrounding mountains converge.
Identify The Type of Soil
Identifying soil types is important if you plan to plant crops. Some soil types are not arable meaning you can’t plant anything. Also, if the farm is located on a mountain slope, it will be prone to landslides.
Accessibility to Farm-To-Market Roads
Ease of access to the town proper/city will lessen your transport expenses. The nearer your farm to a major thoroughfare, the better when transporting your products because you can save on fuel expenses.
If you need to cross how many streams and mountains to get to the farm, you will be cut off from civilization. In this case, seeking help during emergencies will be very difficult. If it’s also not accessible by any vehicle, all the more difficult when it comes to logistic planning.
Hiring Farmworkers
Hiring farmworkers to tend the farm so you don’t get overwhelmed by doing all the tasks yourself is an additional monthly expense. If you’re retired already, your pension might not be enough to hire a farmworker. On top of the regular upkeep and maintenance costs of the farm, you also need to consider expenses for your daily needs and maintenance medications.
Farm May Or May Not Earn A Decent Profit
Depending on the crops you choose to grow at your farm, you might not earn that much. Climate change and unpredictable weather patterns make it difficult for farmers to adjust and recover from any losses.
If you will have your farm rented out, there’s a high chance the property will be misused and after the lease contract ends, you might have more problems in terms of land degradation, nutrient loss, and biodiversity imbalance which will take years to restore. If you plan to convert it to a resort, the same concept will apply.
You might consider looking for an additional source of income later on. This will serve as your buffer in case of severe losses and damages to your crops during calamities. Your options will vary depending on your need. If you prefer a passive income, you might want to explore lease opportunities. Online selling looks like it will be a mainstay in the marketing strategies of different businesses.
Tedious (And Costly) Processing of Paperwork (Land Title, Property Tax, Land Survey, etc.)
There is no easy process in legalizing a property whether you inherited the land or bought it. Oftentimes you would need to go back and forth to different government offices in the province or city where your farm is located. Some paperwork may take months to be processed and for some, it may take years.
Image Copyright: Christine Lailani Ginete-Rome
Farming Requires Grit and Passion
To those who are interested to transition from the corporate world to the agriculture industry, the work environment will be very different. In a corporate setting, you will be working with air conditioning. At the farm, you will be exposed to the heat of the sun while working.
Being hands-on in the management of your farm also means supervising farm tasks daily. I am not in favor of micromanaging so looking for skilled workers who can perform the tasks well is a must.
If the heat of the sun is something you’re not comfortable with, then expect your comfort levels to decrease even more when bugs and mosquitoes start to pester you anywhere you are on the farm. There are also some farm tasks that you have to learn to do yourself, especially the basics. Farmers, in a nutshell, have tanned skin (with blisters from insect bites) and callused hands, even if you’re a woman. 😉
But if you are passionate about farming, these challenges will be your stepping stones to achieve your goal of living sustainably on a farm. Your own set of problem-solving skills will also be very different as well as your system in managing your team of farmworkers. They are skilled laborers, but most of them weren’t able to graduate from college. You do have an option to mechanize all your farming inputs to lessen the number of workers needed at the farm.
But personally, farm mechanization is my last resort. It is still our priority and goal to offer as many jobs as possible and help farmworkers and their families achieve a better life. If the new generation of farmworkers has stable jobs, then I believe that will be the only time we will shift to farm mechanization.
And then of course there’s another set of challenges when it comes to employee management, which I will no longer discuss here in detail.
Consider buying a farm if you have extra money you do not need and wouldn’t mind if the farm earns a profit or not. If this is your only investment fund like a retirement fund, you might be better off with another type of investment that will give you a fixed and consistent income. Again, acquiring and maintaining a farm requires a huge capital and might offer limited ROI to keep your farm sustainable in the long run.
“We can make many plans, but the LORD’s purpose will prevail.” – Proverbs 19:21
Hello, my dearest readers! After a year of hibernation and very busy months, I’m finally posting here on my WordPress blog. This is not a regular blog post, however, as it’s actually one of our requirements in the Social Entrepreneurship online class I’m currently enrolled in at the University of the Philippines Open University. By reading my concept paper, I hope you will be encouraged to take the online course as well and be part of the catalysts for social change.
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My Vision of a Social Enterprise: WE Rice & Agri
by: Christine Lailani Ginete-Rome, LPT
BACKGROUND & RATIONALE
The social enterprise that my family and I have envisioned to organize one day, God willing, will be called “WE Rice & Agri.” It is derived from the statement, “We rise and agree.” When I was choosing the name for our social enterprise, I thought about what will highlight the main agricultural produce of our family’s agribusiness (rice) in the Bicol region with a subtle note on women empowerment. WE Rice & Agri stands for “Women Empowerment thru Rice and other Agricultural products.”
Why use women’s empowerment for this social enterprise? When the pandemic started in 2020, researchers have identified an alarming increase in the statistics of domestic abuse and violence on women and children. According to an article by Business Mirror,
[In the report titled, “Covid-19 and Violence against Women: The Evidence Behind the Talk,” UN Women partnered with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and analytics company Quilt.AI and determined that these online searches surged 63 percent in the Philippines. These online searchers included specific references to “men hitting women,” “spouse abuse,” “boyfriend hit me,” and “controlling men” or “controlling husband.”
There are several studies that can confirm that women in abusive relationships oftentimes do not seek protection or report the incidences of abuse because of several factors. One of them is economic security especially in the case of couples who already have children.
“Financial abuse is often cited by victims of abuse as the main reason that they stayed with or returned to an abusive partner…Research indicated that financial abuse occurs in 99% of domestic violence cases. Surveys of survivors reflect that concerns over their ability to provide financially for themselves and their children were one of the top reasons for staying in or returning to an abusive partner. As with all forms of abuse, financial abuse occurs across all socio-economic, educational, and racial and ethnic groups.”
VALUE PROPOSITION
WE Rice & Agri hopes to empower women in the Bicol region to rise up against domestic violence and abuse, provide economic security through livelihood opportunities, and assist in their recovery from the trauma through spiritual mentoring and counseling. The business initiative can also extend to widows and female senior citizens who are still capable of performing light tasks.
The organization seeks to partner with the DSWD and/or international agencies that are advocates of women’s and children’s rights. To aid in the empowerment, counseling, and therapy sessions guided by Biblical principles that will be held once a week, the organization will reach out to churches for volunteers who will be working under the Women’s Outreach Ministry of the organization.
Our agribusiness currently employs around 20-30 farmworkers, but they are comprised of men and mostly the heads of the families. Through our social enterprise, we also hope to provide an alternative source of income to full-time house moms by allowing them to work in the company as part-time workers. We are looking into setting up a daycare center where our women workers can leave their young children while working inside our farm.
DESCRIPTION OF PRODUCTS OR SERVICES
Our family’s agribusiness is a micro-enterprise but we plan to expand our business operations in the future focusing on Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) in support of the climate change mitigation efforts being conducted worldwide. We are into copra-making and rice farming for how many generations already starting from my great grandparents, which can be dated back to pre-World War II. Fast forward to 2021, we are now transitioning to innovative approaches in sustainable farming. Our 6.5-hectare farmland is located in Bulan, Sorsogon, wherein 1 hectare is allotted for rice farming and a small portion is used to grow coconut trees for copra.
We are also currently cultivating other rice fields with lot sizes ranging between .8 to 1 hectare located in different areas of the town. Another idle property is located in the town proper, which measures 264 square meters. We are still in the business planning stage on how to utilize it and one of our options is to set up a small store where we will be displaying all the agricultural products for sale. This will help us minimize our operating costs since we no longer need to rent a stall at the public market. The property is also located just a few blocks away from the commercial hub of our town.
There are some portions in one of our properties where we grow bamboos and cacaos but they were only used for personal consumption. We are planning to add organic vegetables and corn to the agricultural products that we would like to sell to the market. The following is the complete list of crops that we have and would like to grow in the future and the possible processed products that will be prepared by our women workers.
Rice – rice-based pastries or kakanin, rice wine, rice noodles, etc.
Coconuts – vinegar, tuba, walis tingting, buko juice, coconut husks for gardening compost, uling, etc.
Bamboo – weaved baskets, bags, mats, hats, other home decors
Cacao – tablea, other chocolate-based products
Organic Vegetables – lettuce and other high-value crops through hydroponics/greenhouse farming/mushroom farming
Corn – sold as raw and/or processed via mini food carts (popped corn, steamed corn, cheese corn, etc.); prepare the husks that can be utilized for industrial purposes i.e. fiber, cattle feeds, etc.
BENEFITS TO STAKEHOLDERS
Gender inequality is included in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. Stakeholders will not only be supporting a local cause but should the project becomes a success, it will add up to the communities all around the world that address and eliminate gender inequality. The percentage of locally expanding the network for this type of social enterprise is also high since there is only a small number of social enterprises operating using this business model in our region. We hope to encourage more local business owners to follow suit and also become catalysts for social change.
We are also exploring other viable projects for our 6.5-hectare farmland such as developing a portion of it as a sustainable agritourism site. This will provide other means of income and will also serve as a buffer during the typhoon and drought seasons wherein it will be difficult to grow some of the crops needed for the production of the agricultural products listed above. By diversifying our project portfolio, we hope to achieve sustainability in our social enterprise so our women workers will have a consistent income stream.
Consumers will benefit from more affordable prices as raw materials don’t need to be outsourced since our farm will be supplying them. For local buyers, they will now have a wider range of agricultural products to choose from in the market that can be purchased without spending on costly shipping fees.
We are targeting to cater to nearby communities and cities in the region by considering options such as contract farming and as a model farm through the Department of Agriculture’s Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance and by exploring other marketing channels provided by private organizations. The local community will also benefit from environment-friendly farming practices such as agroforestry that will enable the preservation and conservation of local biodiversity and ecosystems.
WE Rice & Agri will act as our company’s forerunner in enriching the lives of the local community in a holistic sense starting from the “ilaw ng mga tahanan” – the beloved mothers.
Photo by Christine Lailani Ginete-Rome (Bulan, Sorsogon): Some of the women farmworkers would gather excess palay grains in our rice fields during threshing. They no longer do this now since we’re already using a harvester.
“Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and He will establish your plans.” - Proverbs 16:3
A small portion of the 13-hectare property owned by my Mom and Aunt is allotted for coconut and copra production. My Dad no longer pursued the latter due to very low market prices. He decided to sell the coconuts instead as is right after harvesting.
ChallengesThat Farmers Go Through
The very strong typhoons that hit our province in the past years and the pandemic greatly affected the yield and the profit of coconut farmers. This made me ask the Lord what to do with any idle land that we have now. If we can’t use them for agricultural purposes, how else can we utilize them?
My siblings and I originally came up with a plan to use the farm to provide more livelihood projects in our local community. Given the situation now, however, farmers generate low income from their products due to travel restrictions. In other words, farming cannot be a reliable source of livelihood for the time being.
Seeking For God’s Guidance And Wisdom
I still can’t decipher what we can do, but I have a “tugging” that the livelihood projects will still push through in God’s perfect time. This goal can help thousands of residents from the metro who will be going to the provinces under the “Balik-Probinsya Program” of the government.
For one, they need land where they will build their homes. Second, they need to learn how to plant crops for their food while looking for livelihood opportunities. And last but not the least, sustainable projects are a must to make sure every family will experience that promise for a better life.
God’s Plans Are Better Than Our Plans
I was thinking maybe God intended our property for this purpose. What if God wanted to use our idle land to build a community, but guided by Biblical principles?
If this is a faith-based community, then first, there must be a church. Second, there must be a school that will teach all agricultural practices. Third, a mini-market for the residents’ daily needs can be set up and so on.
When my siblings and I were discussing these plans, our target is for the company to be a nonprofit organization. We never felt that God’s calling for us to utilize this property is to become millionaires. It is for the sole purpose of changing lives to a better one.
I can never be a millionaire by this world’s standards. I am not comfortable with the idea of hoarding wealth purely for self-enjoyment.
Imagine the cost of an original Louis Vuitton bag. With that amount, how many students from poor communities can you send to college on a scholarship? That $300 spent on a 30-gram bottle of caviar is enough to feed a family of 5 for 2 months.
A Christ-Centered Community As A Church
Imagine giving these families a chance to live life with meaning, purpose, and renewed hope. This is the very promise of Christianity, and sadly the false hope that is given by some politicians too.
Through Christ, the promise was already fulfilled. This will be the truest essence of being born again – a new life centered on God in a new community where they can experience God’s goodness and greatness.
Back to our end though, I know it is a very big responsibility. These may be our plans, and yet I know in the end God’s plans will prevail. And so, let His will be done always. 🙏
Still waiting for God’s instructions and His plans to unfold,
Hello, everyone! Nope, I haven’t forgotten at all to write anything here on WordPress. I just had a lot of things going on in the past weeks. God, however, never fails to remind me because though I was inactive for more than a month already, I still keep on getting blog “Follows” and post “Likes.”
Thank you, all, for dropping by my site and showing your love. May you be blessed as you read along and God’s revelations be known to you as well. ❤
From A Promise-Keeper To Another Promise-Keeper
I bet God’s reminder to me through all of you is His way of saying, “My child, don’t forget the promise you made back in 2013 when I saved you that you will make this online journal a testimony of your spiritual journey.” 😀
Yes, Lord. I haven’t forgotten at all. In fact, I now have 64 drafts. Some of them are half-finished while some drafts contain only one word to remind me about the theme of the story.
I originally came up with an editorial calendar to make publishing on a regular basis way easier. But, I guess that it is not how God really intended it to be since I write based on the Spirit’s leading, and it has always been this way ever since I started this blog.
Anyway, let me end the long intro here and start today’s topic, which is one of the reasons why I was hibernating here on WordPress – the family business in Bicol.
How the Rice Tarrification Law is Affecting the Rice Farmers Now
Several months passed since the bill was implemented, and Dad’s assumptions that it will negatively affect the rice farmers are right. When my brother, sis-in-law, and I went to our home province last September, a majority of the rice farmers all over the country are expressing their sentiments to abolish the law.
The cheaper imported rice may have been a solution to most rice consumers, but the local rice struggled to compete with it. This resulted in a lower buying price for the local rice – way too low that farmers no longer gain any profit considering the high expenses involved in rice farming from planting to harvesting.
Local farmers, in fact, had to borrow money in order to recover the losses incurred during this season’s harvests. My Dad plans to skip cropping seasons in the meantime that market prices for local rice are low.
The Rice Farming Business Through The Decades
Our rice farming business is an additional source of income, and our parents relied on it to support all our needs when we were in college.
My parents told us how their salaries as working professionals (grade school teacher and engineer) were not enough to support all our needs. Copra production is also another alternative source of income for my parents, however, the buying price of coconuts is also very low.
Both of my parents are retired now and receive a monthly pension. My siblings and I also have our own careers. But what concerns my parents more now is the situation of our palay farm workers who rely on the planting and harvesting seasons to earn an income.
My Dad told me that should we skip a couple of cropping seasons (that’s every 6 months per annum), our farm workers will have no other choice but to look for other means to earn an income. Most of them are skilled in rice farming only so looking for other types of jobs will be difficult for them.
Some of them will leave their families behind to come here to Manila and work as construction workers. My Dad fears that those who do not have this privilege, considering the expensive bus fares going to Manila, might end up joining the New People’s Army to get money to feed their families.
Support the Local Rice Farmers
The plight of rice farmers has created an uproar on social media. There were several collaborations and joint efforts done to support the local farmers such as what Session Groceries is doing. However, only the rice farmers located near and within Metro Manila will benefit from these collective efforts since a majority of the demand all over the country comes from the metro.
For those who are in far-flung provinces such as our rice farmers in Bicol, this isn’t an option. Because selling rice in Manila would mean costly trucking and handling fees. Our only option is to sell our palay to rice traders in the region.
As I type this, I can’t help but feel a little emotional. I have seen the difficult process of producing rice, the stress involved, the resources needed, the amount of money shelled out, and how some of our farm workers would ask my Dad for their salaries in advance to support their immediate needs.
They have been a part of our family for several generations now – yes, we already consider them as a family because they are the ones responsible for keeping our rice farming business running. We just finance the entire process, but they are the ones who do all the hard work, which is extremely difficult. Agricultural work is indeed and entails hard labor.
I see the RTL as a form of oppression to the entire local rice farming industry. If it will not be abolished and market prices for local rice don’t go back to normal, we have to start looking for better alternatives that have lasting solutions.
Just Wait Because God is Always on Time and Never Late
I have been asking God for answers as to why this has to happen. Why let Your people suffer? Why let those who are in the seat of power abuse those who are already disadvantaged? Why let the strong continue to oppress the weak?
And yet through those questions, God asked that I trust Him completely. He may not have revealed what His plans are and yet there is the assurance that He is working something good behind it all. He is always working even if we don’t see it.
Unfortunately, one of my personal struggles is being patient. I already learned a lesson on patience the hard way in terms of my career. It’s God’s calling I work from home. But since I am expecting positive results once I obey Him, I end up doing the other way around when my expectations aren’t met.
The last office job was God’s final warning for me. After just a couple of weeks working in an office setting, here came the health scare once again. I felt persistent pain in my chest, which prompted me to resign and go through several medical checkups.
Warnings To Heed
To some of you who don’t know yet, breast cancer was consistent in my family’s history starting from my great grandmother, grandmother, then to my Mom. They’re all cancer survivors.
God made me realize that the daily commute weakens my immune system faster. I believe God is telling me that He still has more for me to do and if I want to live a fulfilled life, I should obey His calling.
Aside from the health scare, the work-from-home setup also allows me to work anywhere. This means that if God calls me to be in my home province and help Dad manage our family business, I can go there anytime without disrupting my work schedule.
Setting Priorities Right
This isn’t as easy as it sounds though since the reason why I am still here in Manila is that hubby’s work is here, and he is still my first priority. Hubby doesn’t have any background in farming, and should we decide to live in Bicol for good, it will be a major change in his life. I think hubby isn’t ready for this shift yet.
And God knows that, too. So His answer was this, “Tin, wait. I am still not yet done working. You just have to wait.”
For someone like me who always do things according to the plan, impatience always gets the best of me. And yet, this is where God is teaching me the greatest lesson. Though I must admit I sometimes haggle my way through His plans by asking Him to give me even just some glimpses of what He intends to do.
God will reveal some of His plans and yet they are not always a clear picture. Because “His ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.” He can only show us portions of His bigger plans, bits and pieces of them, because that is only how far our human mind could comprehend.
I have realized later on that God’s wisdom is not meant to be grasped nor even understood. It is only to be received in faith that will show our complete trust in His power and His sovereignty above all things.
A Glimpse of Future Investments
I don’t have the wisdom of God to put the pieces of a puzzle together. And yet, in these pieces that God reveals along the way, I can make out one word – HOPE.
The Bicol International Airport was set to be completed by 2020; the Bicol Fish Port is half-finished; the construction of the SLEX 4, which will cut 3-4 hours of the travel time from Bicol to Manila and vice versa, has already started; and SM is starting to build several branches in key cities in the Bicol Region including the city closest to us, which is Sorsogon.
Our hometown may not experience this rapid growth in urbanization just yet. But when it happens, it will also increase commercialization in the province which will then boost local revenues.
This means better employment opportunities and a better quality of life for everyone. I am praying that those who live in the provinces will no longer have to go to Metro Manila and search for stable job opportunities. Besides, the metro will also reach its saturation point. Time will come when it will no longer be a conducive and habitable place to live in given the traffic, congestion, and pollution.
A Shift in the AgriBusiness Industry
Some farmers fear it will be the dawn of the agribusiness industry if most of the lands will be converted to real estate developments. We’re hoping that not all of the agricultural lands will be converted and utilized for commercial and residential projects. We will still have a need for farmlands to produce vegetables, other crops, and raise livestock and address the increasing demand in food supplies.
I wrote in my previous article, “Agribusiness: The Future of Today’s Economy,” that agribusinesses will have a high demand as long as the local government will patronize local products. In our region, God is just starting to establish the market.
So this must be the reason why He is asking me to wait. My siblings and I are initially planning on utilizing another portion of our farm for organic farming and other projects. Our goal is to help the local community and use the idle land according to how our grandparents wanted it to be utilized.
We proposed the idea to our parents but they are not really open to it since it’s a new venture, and they’re unfamiliar with the entire process. My grandparents have grown vegetables but only for their daily consumption. My parents don’t have enough knowledge and experience growing organic vegetables on a wider scale.
The Plan
Competition may be tough. But with the increase in commercial establishments, especially in the food industry such as local restaurants, there will be a high demand for a wide range of agricultural products.
Commercial establishments will start looking for local suppliers as this is cheaper compared if their suppliers will come from the North such as in Benguet where most of Metro Manila’s vegetables are coming from. But can you grow one type of vegetable only and be the supplier for an entire region? Yes, it is possible. One hectare can already provide you a truckload or more of produce. If you own a huge parcel of land, you have more options for growing different kinds of crops.
My parents said this will be difficult since there are certain crops that will only grow on a particular type of soil. If these are vegetables, especially the leafy ones, they don’t have deep root systems. They thrive on rich topsoil. Some of them can be grown in pots just like what I did here in our condo.
I came up with a plan to conduct a“pilot testing” for several vegetables by planting a couple of them in our backyard to see which ones will thrive and which ones won’t. The soil in our garden can be tested along with the soil taken from our farm to compare if they are the same or not.
The experiment will run for an entire cropping season. Determining the crop that is best suited to a particular type of soil will depend on the crop yield. If the crop produced a higher yield, then the percentage of it becoming a profitable venture is also high. It will also include all the expenses for organic fertilizers as well as the labor, and then I will compare it to the market price of the selected crop.
If It is God’s Will, He Will Make a Way
And yet these are all just plans, and these plans may change or may never be fulfilled depending on God’s will. Right now, it is about waiting on His perfect time and acting according to His instructions. I asked for God’s guidance that if my plans are indeed part of His plans, may He lead me to the right resources and the right people who can help me and my siblings in this endeavor.
As typical of God, He never fails when you ask, especially if you are doing the tasks according to His will and His plans. Here are the links I found. Yes, I know, they are quite a lot, but they are all a very good read. Who knows, maybe God will also give you the answers you’ve been waiting from Him through these articles. 🙂
While typing this article, I am also listening to my favorite playlist on Spotify, and it’s just timely that the song by Sinach was played twice. I believe this song is meant to be the perfect ending for this article focusing on this one thought – God will make a way for He is our Way Maker. ❤
I am posting two versions – the original version sung by Sinach in 2017 and the cover version sung by Leeland in 2019. 🙂
Before I begin the actual article, I’d like to share an update to those of you who have been following my blog posts lately. And let me begin by saying, thank you to all those who prayed for my checkup – the doctor’s initial assessment turned out negative. BUT, she suggested I still undergo the 2D and 3D mammography tomorrow. We will get my other test results tomorrow, too, but it will be assessed by my doctor on Saturday. The battle is not over yet, not yet.
But life must go on – I am still breathing and I am still walking. So, let’s keep the ball rolling. 😉
What Do Experts Have to Say About the Rice Tarrification Law?
For today’s article, I will be sharing about the Rice Tarrification Law recently signed by President Rodrigo Duterte. Since a majority of our family’s agribusiness revolves around rice farming, I had to do a lot of research on what this law entails and what are the different opinions of industry experts on the matter.
Here are some of the articles I was able to dig up:
The Rice Tarrification Law basically proposes a better alternative to consumers by lowering the market price of rice through minimal import restrictions, and importers pay a 40 percent tariff only. Tariffs collected will be distributed to farmers as incentives and financial assistance which the government will provide through programs irrigation, new grains, fertilizers, etc.
This law also aims to eliminate rice traders and middlemen since the tariffs will go directly to the rice industry, experts said. But along with the elimination of rice traders in the agri system sprouts two new challenges – rice cartels and rice smuggling.
The latter poses a new threat since there will be those who will try to evade paying the tariffs imposed by the Bureau of Customs. The challenge to the government is this – will there be other security agencies who can monitor the imported rice that comes in? For one, we don’t have enough border patrols.
The emergence of rice cartels would also mean an even stronger market group to compete with. The challenge here is this – will small-time local rice farmers, who cannot pay enough for the tariffs, get the chance to buy imported rice or still have a chance to sell their produce locally and earn a decent profit?
Yet another challenge is this – with the unresolved cases and ongoing graft and corruption in the country, what is the assurance that the farmers will receive their due share of the tariff proceeds?
When I called my Dad and Mom last Saturday to check up on them and talk about this matter, as expected, the conversation lasted for 2 hours. 😀 That’s one thing about our family, it is like a debate team. We love to discuss, analyze, and assess matters with little oppositions and contradictions here and there but can honestly escalate to an actual debate later on. lol Just kidding. 😀
My parents advised us to let this year pass since this will be the adjustment period, so to speak, for registrations and all. Next year will be the time to assess whether this new law will indeed benefit the local farmers or not. I suggested to my parents that if this means producing rice for personal consumption only, maybe it is about time we explore other crop ventures – the initial proposal of my siblings and I for the new family project.
The Toll of Climate Change on Rice Industries
Local rice farmers are facing yet another challenge brought about by the extreme heat wave. Dad told me we are experiencing El Nino this summer – severe drought. The last time this happened was back in 2008. My Mom said time will come when intervals between seasons of El Nino will be shorter with the ever-worsening climate change and heat wave.
Extreme drought for farmers means lacking sufficient ricefield irrigation which will then result in lower crop yields a.k.a. less or no profit at all. According to Dad, farmers right now are in dire need of sufficient water supply since rivers are almost dried up. He shared how two farmers started to drill on their ricefields hoping to tap into a good water source such as a spring, but to no avail.
Every drilling activity costs 15k. This means that if you attempted to drill twice, you shelled out 30k already. It’s a big waste of money unless you were able to find a water source asap so you won’t have to spend more. If you’re unable to get the water supply that you need for your crops, they will all dry up with huge losses on your end than gains.
An Outpour of Blessings
God, in all these circumstances, was good to my Dad. Maybe it’s because I pray about the farm every night? 😀 Nah, I won’t take the credit because I know it is all God and God alone.
Dad shared how he “luckily” drilled through a major source with overflowing water and not just a trickle. It was more than enough to irrigate all his ricefields. I told Dad it was indeed a wonderful blessing and maybe he can share the water supply to nearby ricefields and ask the owners to pay for it since the water will be coming from our land.
I know they will take the offer than to let their crops completely dry out and earn nothing. Dad will be able to help other farmers irrigate their crops and save on drilling costs and he can also recover the amount he spent for drilling and pumping for water – a win-win situation.
By the way, the average pumping cost for ricefield irrigation is 150php per hour. So I asked Dad how long does it take to completely fill up one ricefield, he said it’s overnight and sometimes it takes days depending on the size of the ricefield. Indeed, there really is more to farming than planting the crops, letting them grow, and harvesting them without doing anything. Yes, it is nowhere close to gardening. I was totally wrong. 😀
What better alternatives do rice farmers have?
I browsed the internet for better options not just for our business but for other local rice farmers, too. I found online groups and websites where they share information and discuss different agricultural practices that are on par with the drastic climate changes – how farmers can adapt to these changes.
These organizations are the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations’ International Fund for Agricultural Development (UNIFAD), and Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD). You may check them out through their social media channels if you’re also in the agribusiness industry.
One topic that requires urgent attention now is about how climate change can affect biodiversity and how biodiversity, in turn, affects food production. I realized that my Dad and other rice farmers were just worried about water supply. And yet what I’ve found out was something more catastrophic than that given the alarming depletion rate of earth’s natural resources. This is where the imbalance comes in, which, in turn, can affect how we produce our food.
One scary thought, or rather, challenging question I had after my research is this – will our children or the future generation still have enough decent food to consume in the next decades or centuries, perhaps? I am promoting two advocacies now in agribusiness and they are sustainable agriculture and local food movement. These two encapsulate the mission of the new family project that my siblings and I are working on.
In our own little ways, what can we do to support these advocacies?
I’ll have to discuss this in the next article because this post’s too long already. 😀 But here’s one to motivate us to do something and this is also one of my core beliefs when it comes to creativity: “Where there are seasons of drought, there is ingenuity.” The geniuses of our time and the times before made a lot of discoveries and inventions out of a lack of something.
How to Be Good Stewards of God-Given Resources
But let us not forget that God owns everything that we have and we are only stewards of what He has entrusted us. He will be the one to provide us everything that we need so we can continue the work that He has tasked us to do.
I am praying for summer rain in Bicol and all other rice-producing regions. Rain during the summer season is a miracle. But I have a God who makes things possible and I believe in miracles because I have faith. So, I say, it will happen. 😉
And yes, I pray for a healthy body, too. Because there are a lot of things that I still need to do and my body’s the vessel to move around. But then again, not my will but His will and not my plans but His plans always. ❤
“The earth is the LORD’s, and all it contains. The world, and those who dwell in it.” – Psalm 24:1
P.S.
Is there any pill cuter and girlier than this? The bright pink got stuck in my head it helps me remember when I should take them. 😉
I’m also squeezing this article in real quick because I still have other articles to do at work until the end of this week. I just want to get this off my head – like lice. Off with your head! Errr, off with the lice! I mean, off with the thoughts. 😀
How the agribusiness industry fared throughout the years can be attributed from the bargaining that takes place between the farmer and the trader even before the products leave the farm gate. My family and I have been in the agribusiness, palay production in particular, for decades already. But it was only just recently that I ran a thorough analysis of the business processes involved in farming from the particulars in expenses to the actual farm tasks done.
I asked Dad to give us a rundown of all the marketing processes involved but he told us we’ll learn along the way. I guess this is his way of saying that we conduct due diligence as far as agribusiness is concerned. 😉
From the data I gathered on Dad’s documents, what caught my attention is the market price of palay listed in one of the receipts (16.50php/kg). I asked Dad who dictates the market price and how did it arrive at that figure. He only smiled and said, “The traders dictate the market price.” My follow-up question was, “Based on what?” He answered, “Based on the market trends.”
So, this is just like stock trading on a certain level. But here, if you’re a trader, you have the market power to set the price you desire. Depending on how you conduct your dealings as a businessman, this can either be a good thing or a bad thing as far as fair agricultural trade is concerned. Are traders really fair in dictating the market price for a particular agri product in the region? Does it follow regional market rates or the national market rates?
I haven’t taken any business education courses but I really would love to and if God wills it, I plan to take up a short course on Market Research. For the meantime, I’ve been doing my homework on farmers and middlemen and how the theory of bargaining works in the farming industry. These are the questions I came up with:
Are farmers actually getting the profit they should earn from the entire production?
Can a digital economy change the agricultural landscape in the coming years and provide better marketing opportunities both for the farmers and traders?
Will agricultural innovations and agritech industries promote a brighter future for the farming sector i.e. lower transportation costs, high-yield production, etc.?
How can a government-mandated price ceiling affect the overall trading setup between the middlemen and farmers?
Can contract farming and direct selling be viable marketing alternatives?
How can we prevent the exercise of “monopsony” in marketing rice/palay?
If you’re in the agribusiness industry and are interested to venture in palay/rice production or any crop production, these articles can provide some insights on the current market setup of farming and agriculture in the country:
I’ll be sharing more information as I go along with my market research/business analytics during my free time. Please bear with me if I’ll confuse you a bit with some of my questions since I am also on “tabula rasa” mode when it comes to business developments and the likes. 😀
But if you have any insights to share, please don’t hesitate to drop me a message. I’d love to hear your feedback/suggestion. Thanks in advance and for reading this article. ❤
“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” – Jeremiah 29:11
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