FOR MANY of us, our first “she-roes” were our mothers or grandmothers.
They would patiently wake us up every morning, take us to school and anxiously talk to our teachers to check how we’re doing. When we got sick, they’d check up on us regularly (even if we had nannies), patiently give us our medicines, cook our favorite dishes even when we couldn’t taste anything, all in an effort to nurse us back to health.
Our mothers continue to look out for us, even when we’re old enough to care for ourselves.
As we grew up and took in the world around us, we realized there were other women who worked just as hard as our mothers or grandmothers, in varying degrees and capacities.
When I worked for the Department of Agriculture (DA) in the late 1980s, I was fortunate to meet not just your usual male farmers who planted rice or corn, but their wives, as well, women who would help pound the palay to unhusk it and also lay them out on the paved roads (a.k.a. “solar” dryer) to dry the grains.
A fact sheet from the Food and Agriculture Organization noted: “Women farmers toil with their male counterparts in most of the farm tasks, except for food preparation, which is usually undertaken by the women, and for plowing with tractors, which is usually done by men. Rural women are also mostly responsible for accessing capital needed for farm production. Many of these women engage in off-farm activities that can help augment household income [PPI, 2002].”
In celebration of International Women’s Month, the DA has an ongoing photo exhibit featuring its 2015 awardees for outstanding rural women.
Agriculture Undersecretary for Special Concerns Berna R. Puyat said: “The 2015 DA Search for Outstanding Rural Women is part of the DA’s Gender and Development activities that are geared toward gender equality and the empowerment of women. It aims to give due recognition to rural women who have shown excellence in their field of endeavor, have made outstanding accomplishments in developing the agriculture and fishery sectors, and made significant impact in the lives of the people in the rural areas.”
The winners are:
Luzviminda Teston-Oropesa—Region 5 (first place with a prize of P100,000). A 58-year-old mother of four from Baras, Catanduanes, Oropesa is president of the Happy Farmers Producers Integrated Livelihood Association Inc. (Hafpilainc). One of her outstanding accomplishments was securing funds to implement the Enhanced Modified Rapid Composting Technology Program that benefited almost 800 farmers. She initiated to build and put up the Hafpilainc Livelihood and Training Center where she also served as a trainer for technical trainings on organic agriculture. Hafpilainc has established a 5,000-square-meter demo farm for farmers studying organic-rice production, vermiculture and vermicomposting, organic-fertilizer production and packaging, integrated farming, etc.
She also contributes in tree-planting activities by donating fruit-bearing trees from her nursery and supplies organic fertilizers and seedlings to peoples’ organizations in the implementation of the country’s National Greening Program.
Nelly Seletaria Arangali—Region 13 (second place, P75,000). Arangali, 67, hails from Butuan City, and has profited from making organic agriculture her full-time passion.
She first engaged in vermicomposting and vermiculture to complement her rice-production project. With funding from the Bureau of Soils and Water Management, a DA attached agency, Arangali was able to establish vermicomposting facilities and acquire a biodegradable shredder grant.
With more training from the DA, she was able to transform her farm into a diversified organic farm. Organic vermicast fertilizer, concoctions, and even vermi worms have earned some P500,000 a year for Arangali. She also nets some P650,000 a year from organic rice. She used her profits from organic farming to buy a brand-new car and purchase more land, this time planting it with organic dragon fruit, which yields her some P80,000 to P100, 000 per year.
Annie Muyco-Bajade—Region 12 (third place, P50,000). Bajade, 46, is an active and dedicated leader in the municipality of Tantangan, South Cotobato. She is an enterprising rural farmer who has adapted the integrated farming system, the diversified farming system and organic farming.
Bajade trains fellow farmers, out-of-school youth (4-H clubs), students and other farming enthusiasts on the different farming techniques she has learned.
Jesusa V. Rarangol—Region 2 (fourth place, P30,000). From San Mateo, Isabela, Rarangol, 61, chose to stay in the country and help harness her husband’s land into a thriving farm, instead of moving abroad, where her daughter now resides.
She is systematic in her approach to farming, taking into consideration the impact of climate change. She plants rice twice a year and plants mongo after rice as a third crop to nourish the soil and replenish the lost nitrogen in the soil from the previous rice cropping. She plants banana along the contour of their fields to maximize land use, for additional income, and to protect the soil from erosion usually caused by large animals grazing on the top embankment of canals.
Cresencia “Ising” Marudo Tuiza—Region 4A (fifth place, P20,000). From Calamba, Laguna, Tuiza, 60, was born into farming.
On a 1-hectare property her parents gave her, she started planting sugarcane, while her husband Antonio drove a public-utility vehicle. From sugarcane, she shifted to vegetables, which proved to be more profitable. This encouraged her parents to entrust to her the rest of their farm, planting these with bitter gourds, legumes, tomatoes, eggplants, white squash (upo) and corn. She also started raising livestock, such as hogs, cows and bulls, for use in land cultivation. She is a firm advocate of the integrated pest-management system and organic farming—both of which have helped make her farm even more productive and profitable.
Lourdes Abad—Region 10 (sixth place, P20,000). Hailing from Misamis Oriental, Abad, 56, is president of Happy Hills Migsaloon and Kolambog Farmers Association (Hamekofa), and chairman of the Municipal Agricultural and Fishery Council.
Abad has actively promoted the use of the Sloping Agricultural Land Technology, tilapia culture and swine fattening as livelihood projects; helped convert a chromite mine into an agro-forest, encouraged cashew production, developed agro-farm tourism, organic agriculture and upland rice farming, to name a few.
This International Women’s Month, we salute all women for the courage and the effort to improve their lives and those of the people around them. We especially acknowledge these “she-roes” in the countryside who help nourish us by growing our food.
Image credits: Department of Agriculture