LAMUT, Ifugao – Recognizing the importance of leaving a legacy in agriculture for the future farmers in the province, a certified Philippine Good Agricultural Practitioner (PhilGAP) farmer of the province continues to voluntarily share his knowledge of and the benefits gained from being a certified practitioner.
GAP farmer Ryan Mark Dunuan Ablao from Lamut, who represents the province in the Regional Agriculture and Fisheries Council (RAFC) as the Vice-Chairperson for High-Value Crops Sector has advocated GAP to his fellow farmers after personally experiencing the positive effects of practicing good agriculture.
GAP is a set of standards for the safe and sustainable production of crops and livestock. It aims to help farm owners maximize yields and optimize business operations while also minimizing production costs and environmental impact.
Ablao reiterates the need for the present generation to consider using scientific and technical measures to ensure the preservation of the continued use of farmlands in Ifugao, other areas in the region, and the country by the future generation of farmers.
PhilGAP certification assures customers and wholesale buyers that the farm’s produce and products are of the highest quality, are safe to eat, and have been grown under conditions that protect workers and the environment
“What will we leave as inheritance to the future generations if we continue destroying our soil due to bad agricultural practices? I think that Is very selfish. There are better ways to manage our farms like the use of the principles of GAP and organic farming,” Ryan expressed.
TRANSITIONING AS A GAP FARMER:
Having no background in farming, Ablao still pursued to become a farmer while taking care of his mother who was a fourteen-year dialysis patient due to Chronic Renal Disease prior to her passing in 2020 which was due to her tumor in her colon. He would not discount food as a major cause of this disease. Having garnered a concept of food safety, aside from her mother’s advice for him to try and produce safe vegetables, Ablao decided to engage himself in GAP.
Ivan Baguilat, one of the first certified GAP farmers of the province, together with the Department of Agriculture Cordillera office (DA-CAR) encouraged Ryan to undergo the certification process after being informed and educated on the benefits it would provide to him through this farming practice. Officially certified in 2021, he acknowledges the assistance of the municipal government through the Provincial Agriculture, Environment, and Natural Resources Office (PAENRO) for the assistance they had shared in preparation for the requirements for his PhilGAP certification.
“Farming is a science, it is a continuous learning process because there are and will be challenges. In my case, when I decided to be GAP certified, I was in constant communication with technicians from Central Luzon State University (CLSU), the Department of Agriculture, PhilMech, and the seed center all in Munoz, Nueva Ecija, the DA-CAR, Municipal Agriculture Office, and Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office. It was from them that I learned what the process of being GAP certified is. Since then. I have learned how to measure the amount of fertilizers that I should use depending on the soil testing. This was when I started to study and learn about farming, which was a challenge for me, and I thank the Department of Science and Technology-Ifugao for bringing me to these agencies,” Ablao explained.
The knowledge he gained from attending seminars related to GAP led him to set a [portion of his farm as a demonstration area where he could show other farmers the difference between the traditional way of farming and scientific and technical way of farming which other farmers near their farm started to adopt to the practice.
Ryan even tried off-season farming. In 2011, his plantation consisted of pepper, papaya, a rice field, and a plantation of squash which was wiped out by tropical storms. This event was devastating to him that he did not visit the farm for almost a year and a half until some of his farmer cousins encouraged him to return to farming. He now had taken students of the Ifugao State University as his co-workers while teaching them the concept of GAP.
The GAP farmer shares that there will always be lots and lots of failures by a farmer which should not stop them. Although not consider himself as successful, he still passionately pursues farming using the learnings of GAP which he believes, will lead to his success.
Joan Bacbac, Chief of the Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Division (AMAD) helped identify Ryan’s production of soya beans to be the first of his products to be certified under GAP, followed by papaya, and strawberries. And through the support provided by DA-CAR’s High Value Crops Development Program (HVCDP), he was able to produce good quality strawberries which critics said would not be possible to be grown in Lamut.
“They said that strawberries would not grow in warm places like Ifugao but I concentrated on growing strawberries in my greenhouse covered with plastic sheets that were provided by HVCDP as one of the interventions to my farm, I was successful because the produce was large to the point that it had to bring my strawberries to the open field to which I surmise might be due to the seeds acclimatizing with the area,” Ryan stated.
SHARING THE KNOWLEDGE ON GAP:
“I got my certification in October 2021 right before the second GAP summit in November of that year and I was exposed to the four-day summit, particularly during the business hour portion, I was informed of the organization of GAP certified farmers of Benguet and Mountain Province who were sharing numbers representing their market. I was asked to be a member which I refused because I decided that I would rather go home and campaign for GAP to our farmers and create our own organization, Ryan said ” Ablao said.
Upon his return to Ifugao from the summit, he began his advocacy on spreading the benefits of GAP to other farmers by presenting his insights and knowledge in the various trainings and seminars the DA, and the Provincial and Municipal Agriculture Office organized.
Explaining how he witnessed the benefits of being a certified GAP farmer, he expressed his intention to share this with his fellow farmers.
“If I were selfish, I would not be spending my time and effort talking to the farmers in the province about GAP and convincing them to be certified. I have the option to keep the benefits to myself and other GAP-certified farmers of Lamut so that we would be the only recipients of interventions coming from DA-CAR HVCDP. But no, we have to share, we have to help other farmers by letting them know about the benefits of being a GAP-certified farmer. We have to do this with food safety as the primary objective, market linkages as the secondary objective, and priority to interventions as the third reason,” the GAP farmer stressed.
An example of his voluntary support to farmers is that of the Ballucuk Farmers Association in Liwon, Asipulo to ask why they were not preparing for certification after they attended the GAP training. He then informed them of the benefits of selling safe products to consumers and a better market for GAP-certified products. He particularly shared how he was marketing GAP-certified papayas to a company based in Metro Manila. This encouraged them and now we are preparing documents and other requirements needed for certification.
He had also been joining the municipal government’s GAP training in Hungduan, Banaue, and Tinoc to which he hopes these trainees would be certified to enjoy the perks of being certified.
FUTURE OF GAP IN IFUGAO:
Ablao’s advocacy to educate farmers on the importance of food safety through the teachings of GAP, the wide range of markets for GAP-certified products, the importance of organizing farmer practitioners for better market linkage, and the prioritization, of interventions from DA-CAR HVCDP is now being disseminated as he joins the MAO and PAENRO in GAP trainings and seminars as a living testimony to the benefits of GAP.
Currently, the province has ten GAP-certified farmers all from the municipality with other farmers coming from different municipalities starting to embrace the concept prior to undergoing the process of certification.
His vision is for other farmers not only in Ifugao but in the region to consider GAP as a way for them to have access not only to interventions coming from DA-CAR HVCDP and AMAD, but primarily for food safety and the establishment of a better market for their GAP-certified agricultural products.
“I encourage my fellow farmers to try to adapt to the programs of DA-CAR. Based on experience, the failures encountered by farmers are due to the decisions made without considering other options. Farmers need to be open-minded, help, and reach out to each other. Sharing new successful learnings with other farmers. Let the DA assist us, let God work within us and I believe success will be on our side. I want to thank the Lord for all the blessings he has given me, the DA-CAR HVCDP through the leadership of Ma’am Joan Bacbac for all the support it has granted me and the other GAP-certified farmers and for the coming interventions it will grant us, and to my family for all the advice and support,” Ablao added.