i luv farmers

Harvest Festival Celebrates the Hard Work of Farmer Trainees

2012-02-05T22:49:00.000-08:00

With learning modern farming techniques from Harbest Agribusiness, farmer trainees of the Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan of the Municipality of Consolacion and beneficiaries of the iluvfarmers Social Marketing Campaign recently held a Harvest Festival where all the crops and fruits that they were able to grow at the demo farm site were being distributed and sold to suppliers and local consumers. Joy exuded all over the place as they take the fruits of their hard labor and I also mean that literally. hehe! Go Farmer Heroes! Keep up the Good work!

Although they have graduated from the program now, their all their learning will stay with them forever! Cheers to farming modernization and alleviation of the lives of the very people who are working their lives off to keep us from hunger! Go go go!

Ms. Consolacion 2011 Candidates visit iluvfarmers Farm Site

2012-02-05T22:41:00.000-08:00

This proves that they not only got beauty and brains but heart for the people as well. Go Ms. Consolacion candidates! They helped the farmer trainees with the demo site in Consolacion without any hesitation at all.

Thank you for supporting girls!

Congrats! Farmers graduates from Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan Program!

2012-02-05T22:35:00.000-08:00

The farmers who went on training under the Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan Program of the government and SM Foundation has graduated a month ago at SM City Cebu. These farmers are also the beneficiary of the iluvfarmers Social Marketing Program of the scholars of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. Here are the photos of their amazing moment.

Congratulations mga nay and tay!

Iluvfarmers Final Report at Best of Young Minds Conference

2012-02-02T00:18:00.000-08:00

Iluvfarmers Final Report2

iluvfarmers Supporters Spread The Word!

2012-02-02T00:03:00.001-08:00

iluvfarmers Social Marketing Report presented at the Best of Young Minds Conference and Graduation

2012-02-01T23:37:00.000-08:00

Here is the Social Marketing Report that details the feat of the advocacy campaign of the Team 4 Team CPMPC of YMA Season 5 as they defend their fund raising and social awareness efforts for the Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan Program of Consolacion.

Their program is being implemented through the iluvfarmers Campaign brand spearheaded by the YMA Scholars: Jaysee Pingkian, Lorbe Catadman, Rhecel Solon, Irish Nunez and Babykit Marie Nunez.

They faced a panel of judges at the recently concluded Best of YMA Conference and Graduation held at the Casino Espanol, Cebu City.Iluvfarmers Social Marketing Report3The scholars in action...

In behalf of Team CPMPC, thank you so much for your continuing support for the campaign! There is a long way to go as long as we have farmers whose lives need to be alleviated from the unending chains of poverty! Go YMAers! Go Farmer Heroes!

iluvfarmers Social Marketing Accomplishment Video Presentation

2012-02-01T18:12:00.000-08:00

created by http://facebook.com/jayseeblabs

iluvfarmers needs more support!

2011-10-15T23:16:00.000-07:00

We are writing this post on behalf of ILUVFARMERS campaign, a fundraising and awareness campaign spearheaded by the team of scholars under the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI).This campaign aims to promote the “Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan” project of the Mayor Teresa Alegado and the Municipality of Consolacion. It is being done in Brgy. Danglag, Consolacion which is a farmer empowerment program that aims to give 180 local farmers proper training in innovative fruit and vegetable production.

To know more about it, you can visit our Facebook Page at http://facebook.com/iluvfarmers which currently has around 896 supporters. Updates on the project, our experience working with them and their life stories can be found there.

We, scholars of the YMA Program under RAFI, are tasked to gather support for the program as part of our internship under the RAFI’s leadership training. We are expected to gather 10,000 signatures of support or Php 10,000 in donation and 1000 Facebook Fans by October 26, 2011.

So far, we have gathered 1,261 signatures and Php 3,225.00 in donations. We still have a long way to go and we have until October 26, 2011 to finish. That is why we humbly seek your help in making a difference in the lives of our hardworking farmers. We are asking your school organization, community organization or workplace to sign the pledge to signify that you support the program. You may also place your donations in cash or kind as well.

Help today, promote this http://facebook.com/iluvfarmers to potential donors or donate cash or kind or sign the pledge of support. Just contact Lorbe, one of the Campaign Ambassadors thru this number: (+63)929-961-3737

iluvfarmers Campaign Ambassadors thank our donors! :)

THANK YOU TO:
Pingkian Family
Beverly Catadman
Rhecel Solon
Franco Canoy
Jet Villamor
Lorlee Catadman

also thanks to:
Claudine Estrellada
Kheydin Obaob
Kevin Codilla

As of October 16, 2011, the iluvfarmers campaign was able to gather Php 3, 225.00 for the Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan program in Cebu which will aid in providing the farmer trainees tools, seeds and seedlings, and fertilizers.

Help today, promote this http://facebook.com/iluvfarmers to potential donors or donate cash or kind. Just contact Lorbe, one of the Campaign Ambassadors thru this number: (+63)929-961-3737.

First Day of Working With the Farmers

2011-10-05T19:07:00.000-07:00

Scholars of Team CPMPC of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. went to the farm demo site of the Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan Program of the Municipality of Consolacion. The training farm was located in Brgy. Danglag and going there was quite hard so they had to ride a service vehicle. There they saw farmers learn to prepare the hectares of land for farming under the scorching sun with barely any food and water throughout the day.

During the afternoon lecture. Resource Speaker and trainer is from Harbest Agriculture Corporation.

Farmers preparing the land. In farming one farmer said, land preparation takes the longest time.

A Nanay-farmer uprooting left out pieces of grass.

This hand tractor was introduced to the farmers by the Harbest Agriculture Corp. representative and trainer. He was good enough to make arrangements with the company to lend the tractor for awhile to the farmers. Now it's easier to farm.

Manong Florentino's Life Story of a Farmer

2011-10-04T20:46:00.000-07:00

Here is another story of a farmer who has been farming since he was 7 years old.

He is Manong Florentino Cosido, 71 years old, has 8 children and is already widowed.

Like majority of our farmers he also has been a successor of his family’s traditional work. He shared that when he was young they were already trained to work in the fields.

Surprisingly, now, no one from Manong Florentino’s children followed his footsteps, but sadly for Manong who wished for a successor.

Manong seeks enjoyment in farming especially that he lives alone now and visited by his children from time to time. It would make him truly happy if he can grow something that is why he never stopped farming.

To learn more, to update his knowledge about farming was his reason why he joined the training.
He specified that the earth is the most important factor in growing crops.

He laid eyes on the earth and farming at a very early age, he dedicates his life to it.

Read more on the 6 WAYS ON HOW YOU CAN HELP HER and other farmers!

http://iluvfarmers.blogspot.com/2011/09/6-ways-to-help-our-local-farmers.html

written by Lorbe Catadman

Dandy Ponce's Life Story of a Farmer

2011-10-04T02:21:00.000-07:00

Dandy Ponce maybe is the eldest of histhree siblings but he is the youngest among all the farmers who participated inthe training.

Dandy is a 16 year old boy who just graduated from high school.His father works in a mine and farms at the same time while his mother stays at home to take care of them.

He expressed his want to really go to college but like many others he cannotproceed due to financial constraints. Her favorite subject is Math and his dreamis to become an accountant.

But he loves farming too so he also dreams tobecome an agriculturist.

When asked if which of the two he would really go for,farming or to study, he quickly answered BOTH.

It may require some bigadjustments but he will try his best to do the two things that he truly loveddoing.

Dandy considers himself a green thumb, hecan grown many kinds of plant and vegetables.

For him, farming isn’t hard as alivelihood, if one has capital, the knowledge and the physical abilities thenall else will come along. At a young age he was already trained to farm.

Themajor problems that he has encountered in farming is preparing the landwhich has to be treated with fertilizer and WATER. It appears that he has tofetch water from a really far source that is would take him 2 hours to getback.

What he does to save time is he runs from their home which is situated inthe mountainous part to the water source so the remaining time will be allottedto him bringing back the containers with water.

Hejoined the training because he wanted to learn everything about farming, therequirements to acquire a fertile soil, how to grow the vegetables and theseasons to grow them. He expects to learn a different way of farming.

He saidthat this training is very valuable to him and will be to others especially ifhe can teach what he had learned to them.

Read more on the 6 WAYS ON HOW YOU CAN HELP HIM and other farmers!

http://iluvfarmers.blogspot.com/2011/09/6-ways-to-help-our-local-farmers.html

written by Lorbe Catadman

Scholars Upscale Social Marketing To Promote Hero Farmers

2011-09-28T02:20:00.000-07:00

Can you imagine life without farmers? A team of scholars from the Young Minds Academy (YMA) Season 5 leadership program can’t. They harnessed the power of marketing strategies mostly through the new media to promote a farmer empowerment project in Consolacion, Cebu. Because of the on-going training that the farmers are undergoing, they will soon yield better and abundant harvests in their respective farms all over Cebu.

The online community has been abuzz with the iluvfarmers farmers
campaign that champions hero farmers in Cebu.

About Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan

Team CPMPC of the YMA program of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. created a campaign for the “Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan.” The project aims to educate farmers in vegetable and fruit production and innovations as part of the poverty alleviation goals of the Municipality of Consolacion.

Around 120 farmers go to the 5,000 square meter demo farm site in Brgy. Danglag to learn from the trainers from Harbest Agribusiness Corporation and the Department of Agriculture Regional Offices.

The program’s aim is to empower our farmers with knowledge to improve farm practice and increase yield, thereby providing better income opportunities.

The project started last September 11 and is set to end on November 18, 2011. This has been done in 18 other project sites all over the country as well, and as of writing, graduated more than two thousand farmers.

About iluvfarmers

The Team CPMPC scholars of YMA drafted and implemented a massive campaign to help these farmers gain social awareness and support from the public with the parameters set by RAFI which is 1,000 likes on the Facebook page and 10,000 peso donation or signature of commitment within a one month period.

But instead of focusing on achieving the goals, they turned to the notion that the quality of interaction and support they get is more important especially within the deadline.

As part of the marketing strategy, they branded their campaign as “iluvfarmers” to imply the need for people to appreciate our farmers who are considered as unsung heroes. Meticulous planning and execution was done from designing the logo, content creation and development, setting of specific goals, art direction of campaign materials such as online posters, advertisements, teasers, blog posts, endorsements from different personalities and regular updates in the social networking sites. They also went to the farm demo site and worked with the farmers themselves under extreme weather conditions and poor classroom setting.

The scholars themselves underwent input sessions with social marketing experts in the region today.

They created a Facebook page with a custom designed landing page which can be accessed at http://fb.me/iluvfarmers where details of the program and how you can support the campaign and the farmers are placed. They also created a Twitter account http://twitter.com/iluvfarmers where conversations and interactions are done not only with netizens but as well as Agriculture and Farming organizations all over the world. To curate the beautiful life stories of the farmers and to regularly update the supporters with the latest developments of the project, Team CPMPC scholars also had created a blog site http://iluvfarmers.blogspot.com for better content and brand establishment.

The iluvfarmers Campaign is being spearheaded by Jaysee John R. Pingkian, Lorbe Catadman, Babykit Marie Nunez, Irish Nunez and John Rhecel Solon members of the Team CPMPC of the YMA Season 5.

Why you should help?

Farming is not as fun as you would experience through games like Farmville. It actually takes a lot of effort and life as we know it and some people have not only considered it as livelihood but life in itself.

The project needs to sustain because they have learned to pursue a reliable source of income with very little capital through the technologies and knowledge imparted to them.

They need not only awareness from people but as well as donations in money or in kind such as farming tools and fertilizers, vegetable and fruit seeds and seedlings because after the training they are expected to apply their knowledge unto their respective farm lands.

Keep in mind that they are also the providers of their families.

They also need social awareness because little attention and support is given to these people whose efforts are barely recognized and compensated for the amount of work they are doing.

How can you help?

4 Steps to Help Them!

LIKE and SHARE this page! COMMENT on photos and posts as well!
DONATE your Facebook or Twitter Status:

They work hard to provide us food. We can help them do better. FOLLOW @iluvfarmers and LIKE http://fb.me/iluvfarmers
Somewhere in the mountains are heroes who work tirelessly to provide us and their families. FOLLOW @iluvfarmers and LIKE http://fb.me/iluvfarmers
Facebook is not just for emo stuff. It could also be used to support our hero farmers! FOLLOW @iluvfarmers and LIKE http://fb.me/iluvfarmers
Or you could CREATE YOUR CREATIVE STATUS and post it on the Facebook page so they could feature you!

FOLLOW us on Twitter http://twitter.com/iluvfarmers
DONATE or ask people to donate money, farm tools, farm supplies, seedlings or seeds.

Contact iluvfarmers Campaign Ambassador Lorbe Catadman: 09299613737

Manong Vicente's Life Story of a Farmer

2011-09-26T15:41:00.000-07:00

Vicente E. Lacio is a 59 year old farmer, has 7 children 2of them are graduating from high school the others are already working whilehis wife is a “kusinera”.

Manong Vicente has been farming since he was verylittle as a succession to his parents’ work.

He is an experienced farmer,farming for over 40 years now he said that the major challenges of a farmerthat he must face are the occurrence of pests and acquiring the capital for the fertilizersand “binhi” or seedlings for the next season’s planting.

He must also endurethe physical pains like headaches, backaches and as he would term it “sakit sakalawasan” to sustain the farm.

As a “saop” a term for farmers who don’t farmtheir own lands, half of his earnings for the sold harvested crops go to theowner of the land.

Mostly for a year, he can harvest thrice but sometimesthough he can only harvest twice especially if there was a huge pest-attack onthe crops.

Farming as a work for him is “pait”, it requires hard workand is not a very comfortable job at all. He works rain or shine and unlikeother workers, he is not paid for his labor.

But even still, he strives for hisfamily and puts God first in all that he does. He prays to God for good harvestand even right before he plants. He believes that God holds everything and itis Him who will determine their fate.

He joined the “Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan” program to be able tolearn the major practices of farming. As an experienced farmer as he is, healso wants to be up to date and wants to know and experience how to farm hybridvegetables.

Manong Vicente is a beneficiary of the Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan Farmer Empowerment Program in Consolacion, Cebu, Philippines

Read more on the 6 WAYS ON HOW YOU CAN HELP HIM and other farmers!

http://iluvfarmers.blogspot.com/2011/09/6-ways-to-help-our-local-farmers.html

written by Lorbe Catadman

Nanay Conchita's Life Story of a Farmer

2011-09-26T15:34:00.000-07:00

Farming has run through Nanay Conchita Andrade’s family for years. Like her, her husband and 3 children are also into farming.

She is 60 years old and has been farming since she can remember in their farm in Tuburan. They transferred in Consolacion 5 years ago but they still farm a piece of land. She grows cassava, alugbati (Malabar night shade), eggplants and okra. She joined the training program to be able to learn how to plant variety of fruits and vegetable and to learn something new.

For her basically, the major challenges in farming are the type of soil and weather. Not all soils are appropriate for farming and others have to be prepared well and should be treated with fertilizers for the plant to last. Weather can also affect the seeds because they can’t grow their roots if there is too much rain.

Nanay Conchita loves farming. She said that she cannot be still and her head would ache if she can’t farm.

Aside for the fact that farming is the primary source of their family’s income, she considered it her life. She believed in its power. She said that farming provides us all our sustenance.

Nanay Conchita is a beneficiary of the Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan Farmer Empowerment Program in Consolacion, Cebu, Philippines

Read more on the 6 WAYS ON HOW YOU CAN HELP HER and other farmers!

http://iluvfarmers.blogspot.com/2011/09/6-ways-to-help-our-local-farmers.html

written by Lorbe Catadman

Lorbe shares what it's like to work with our farmers

2011-09-19T17:22:00.000-07:00

I have learned from our farmers the value of time; to never put off until tomorrow what can be done today. Most of our farmers may have not acquired the level of education that most of us had already achieved but they are those whose hands were calloused, whose skins were burned to cultivate and grow the foods that we all eat every day. Our farmers deserved to be highly acknowledged, understood, thanked for and not to be discriminated.

- Lorbe Catadman -

Farmers showing their interest by listening attentively despite their positions under the afternoon heat of the sun.

Lorbe is one of the YMA Scholars who volunteers to work with, campaign and raise funds, resources and awareness for the Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan, farmer empowerment program in Consolacion.

Read her whole story on her blog... what she had seen, experienced and discerned...

http://lorbeshares.blogspot.com/2011/09/our-farmers-our-heroes.html

posted by Jaysee

6 Ways to Help Our Local Farmers

2011-09-19T16:36:00.000-07:00

Even women farmers are active in the training site in Consolacion amidst the heat of the sun!

LIKE and SHARE this page!
DONATE your Facebook or Twitter Status:
- They work hard to provide us food. We can help them do better. LIKE #iluvfarmers on Facebook http://facebook.com/iluvfarmers
- Somewhere in the mountains are heroes who work tirelessly to provide us and their families. Support #iluvfarmers on Facebook http://facebook.com/iluvfarmers
- Facebook is not just for emo stuff. It could also be used to support our hero farmers! Support #iluvfarmers http://facebook.com/iluvfarmers
Or you could CREATE YOUR CREATIVE STATUS and post it here so we could feature you!
FOLLOW us on Twitter http://twitter.com/iluvfarmers
DONATE or ask people to donate money, farm tools, farm supplies, seedlings or seeds.

Contact iluvfarmers Campaign Ambassador Lorbe Catadman: 09299613737

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posted by Jaysee