by Jullie Y. Daza
“KC loves the farm’s organic vegetables. She also loves coconut vinegar and chili peppers and nature and the outdoors. In the end, when your family loves what the farm produces, it is all well worth it.
“Sharon, my wife, agrees with my dream. She says it is about going back to basics. She likes knowing where our food comes from and that they are pesticide-free. Our food is far more nutritious and more delicious since we’ve started to grow our own organic food. She loves it that we are in the middle of nature, and how pure the air is.”
Thus Senator Kiko Pangilinan begins his latest work, not a Senate bill or resolution but a slender book that relates his family’s love affair with their Sweet Spring Country Farm in Alfonso, Cavite and its crops, creatures, and everything in between and beyond. Not merely a weekend or gentleman farmer, the senator is a confirmed advocate of farming, after a stint as chairman of the committee on agriculture and later as Benigno Aquino III’s secretary for food security. What he has learned is a collection of insights that have been refreshed by his children, Frankie and Miel, who obviously enjoy their time on the farm and its animals, especially a big fat black pig named Bacon.
He may be a VIP in political circles, but Kiko the farmer is as vulnerable as the next when it comes to facing the challenges of weather, pests, managing people and time. Tomatoes crushed by incessant rain, 1.3 tons of lettuce wiped out by typhoon. Plus “the protocols or learning the science of production – our farmers face worse conditions, without the financial support to begin again when disaster strikes.”
The obligation to self and farm is to “stand up where I fell, to plant again.” Toward the end of his book, punctuated by snapshots of toil and sunny smiles on the 1.7 ha farm, the author lists his tips for “those who want to start their own farm.” Start small, grow your abilities, visit a real farm. Learn about organic farming, use natural pesticides and fertilizers. Measure land area and project yields. Buy seeds, pots, some farming tools, a weighing scale. A cost-efficient farm needs to have a “flagship” product. (Farmer Kiko prefers to grow food rather than flowers.) Know your market. Start simple with “Bahay Kubo” veggies. Introduce livestock. Expand to agri-tourism.
And never, never again let it be said that “I’m only a farmer.”
