Success Story: Farming Technology Skills Give Family a Better Future
Magel is a training facilitator for the SUCCESS Alliance Phase II program who led a year-long Farmer Field School for 100 smallholder cocoa farmers in her hometown of Lupi, Camarines Sur Province, the Philippines.
“Before joining SUCCESS Alliance II in October 2007, I was jobless for over two years after giving up my stable job in Manila, as an office staff, to take care of my two young children (a seven-year-old girl and ten-year-old boy) in the province,” she says. After passing the rigorous training facilitator selection process, she underwent a two-week intensive training on cocoa farming technology in November 2007.
Magel showed her commitment, dedication and outstanding service as a training facilitator in her community. She conducted the Farmer Field School sessions with hands-on practicum and simple, understandable notes for farmers. She is well liked by the farmers in her community as evidenced by high attendance rates at her sessions. She visits farmers at their farms to ensure that they are well served. On Saturdays, Magel provides technical assistance to a cocoa demonstration farm being developed in her community which will eventually be open to farmers for training and field research.
Magel also encouraged the active participation of her family in the program. Confident of her technical skills on cocoa technology, she trained her father and her husband on cocoa propagation. Her father then established his own nursery, while her husband became skilled at grafting cocoa seedlings. When her husband, Moreso, resigned from his fulltime mechanic job for health reasons in September 2008, he earned extra income through plant propagation and grafting for nursery operators in the Bicol region. Realizing the growing demand for cocoa in the region, he developed a plan to expand the family’s nursery operations. Tragically, Moreso’s health worsened and he died in February 2009 before implementing his plans.
Inspired by her husband’s dream, Magel says “I will put into reality the plan of my husband to expand our cocoa plant nursery and move on in life using my skills and expertise in cocoa farming technology to give a better future for my two children.” She is optimistic about her opportunities for building her business and prospects for employment using her newly developed skills.
WCF thanks ACDI/VOCA for contributing this story.