COMMUNITY-BASED POLYTECHNIC
SCHOOL FOR AGRO-FORESTRY and FISHERIES
BY: Rev. Fr. Emy
Laviña
A Conceptual
Framework
Feb. 11, 2009
Historical Background
It is undeniable fact that Philippine education is
irrelevant to the lives of the common tao. Despite the many good things that
one learns from school, education as a whole is still geared towards catering
to the needs of the foreign countries. Medical professionals like doctors,
nurses, medical technicians and pharmacists have all their eyes on seeking jobs
abroad because courses and methodologies learned in schools are all Western
oriented. Pharmacists are but professionals sales girls for big Western
Phamaceuticals. Field all the doctors, nurses, pharmacists and med-technicians
to the farflung barrios without any Western gadgets and ready made capsules,
and our own herbolarios and hilots would be more efficient healers.
Because of methodologies and course-content from
kindergarten to high schools, our students acquire a certain snootiness towards
their parental origin. To the young generation in the rural areas today, the
future is in cities. Thus, the big exodus from the rural to the urban areas
where the money is. Only the old are left in the rural areas are left to tend
to their farms. This again is abetted by the government programs giving more
support to technical courses that produce technicians needed by foreign firms
both in the local and foreign countries.
One can just wonder at the statement of one young
college student who dream to become a lawyer so that he can go abroad and after
so many years he will come back to retire and farm his inherited land. This is
just illustrative of the kind of education and orientation by most of us. The
courses learned do not jibe with the lives of the people in the provinces. And
one can just make a simple deduction why our people remain poor despite the
education they get for generations.
Agriculture, the
Centerpiece program of the Government
President Diosdado Macapagal was the first to
advocate agriculture as his centerpiece program. This was followed by Erap in
the early part of his administration. The first 2 years after his announcement,
all government agencies shifted its focus to agriculture. TESDA was one of
those agencies that made a one hundred eighty degree shift from urban
industrial focus to agriculture, without abdicating, however, the industrial
aspect of its mandate.
In Region VII, the incumbent TESDA Regional Director invited
one or two NGO representatives to sit in the TESDA Committees both in the
Region and the provinces. The TESDA National Director, Fr. Ed de la Torre, had
prolific ideas in implementing the pronouncement of ERAP’s centerpiece program,
Agriculture.
The Community
Based School for AgroForestry and Fisheries (CBPS-AFF)
It was during the stint of TESDA Director Marangga of
Region VII that idea of a Community based school was conceptualized and
implemented by the TESDA Provincial Committees in the region (Negros Oriental),
in collaboration with the NGOs and POs from the agricultural sector.
The on-going program, CBTED, in the region was a
great help in putting everything into concrete the tangible project that the
community put up. Another key factor was the active collaboration of the
Barangay Development Council that facilitated the construction of the school
building and the basic facilities.
One key success factor is the active cooperation of
the whole barangay and neighboring communities together with other key
tripartite stakeholders like the LGUs, TESDA, NGOs and POs. This would mean
several barangay assemblies and orientations, consultations of key leaders and
stakeholders so that one community development plan could be identified,
defined and agreed by all sectors.
The establishment of a Community Based School for
AgroForestry and Fisheries is just one of the many key results of many
consultations and meetings of key leaders/stakeholders. The school will serve
as the dynamo that will help churn out as well as strengthened individual
and/or community-based livelihood projects. The community based school will
enhance both the individual and collective determination and undertakings in
order to generate income that would respond to their immediate economic needs
while creating hopefull surplus for the internal development of the community.
One effect that is intangible is the unlearning
processes of both individual and the community. The courses and education
modules that will be offered the community based school shall be the result of
the many meetings and dictates/needs of
the individuals/community. Resource persons are tapped from the local
institutions and agencies. Medium of instructions are in the dialect
intelligible to the local participants. In short, agriculture is no longer a
third rate profession but is restored back to its normal pedestal co-equal to
any profession in the country.
TESDA-recognized
School
TESDA is a government t agency
co-equal to CHED and DECS. TESDA is the agency that approves the opening of any
school or learning institution that gives 3 year-course degree e.g. secretarial
courses, vocational courses, hotel and restaurant management, etc. Likewise,
this community based school should seek recognition and approval from TESDA
since it shall be offering associate agricultural courses of less than 4 years.
This shall not be difficult since TESDA shall be involved from the start of its
conception till the end. In fact, history shows that the idea originated from
the prolific minds of the TESDA National Director, Fr. Ed de la Torre, and was
impregnated and the period of gestation and birth happened in TESDA Region VII.
Project Objectives
General: The project aims to establish a community based
polytechnic institute that offers 3 months to 3 years technical and skills
development courses to farming, upland fishery and forestry students and
residents of barangays within the Parish of San Rafael, Diocese of Maasin, as
well as the neighboring barangays adjacent to the Parish. The learning
institution intends to ensure better ecosystem and secured agricultural
production resource base for higher productivity and higher yield at lower cost
through Sustainable Agriculture Methodology, to attain food security and food
sufficiency and transformation of the rural poor into empowered communities,
eventually bring them to a higher state or quality of life.
Specifics: In order to gain tangible results out of the general
objectives set above, the project proposes to achieve the following specific
objectives within the next 3 (minimum) to five (maximum years:
1.
That a community based, community owned,
community controlled and community-managed polytechnic learning institution is
established and fully operational;
2.
That the land and water conservation including
water shed management shall have helped in the restoration of at least 20% from
the present level, so that agricultural resource base is secured and sustained
– regarded as the tangible result of the CBPS’s contribution to ecological
conservation;;
3.
That the farmers (in 5 years will reach a minimum
of 3,250 students/graduates) production of food crops, grains and vegetables
shall have increased by 50% from their present production level;
4.
That the farmers’ in 5 years will reach a
minimum of 1,500 student graduates) production of meat, poultry and fresh water
fish products shall have increased by 50? From the present production level;
5.
That 78% of the students’ farming household
shall have attained higher yield, higher income, better housing facilities,
decent clothes and shall have eaten nutritious and balanced -3-meals a day;
6.
That 50% of students’ farming household shall
have hurdled above poverty threshold. In
concrete terms, the household shall have produced and earned an equivalent of
P50,000 annual income;
7.
At least 50% of the present grade 6 school
children have attended secondary schools, wherein 25% of whom have finished
secondary education and are ready for enrolment at the CBPS;
8.
That at least 50% of men and women residing in
the parish of San Rafael shall have transformed themselves and their families
into a healthy , responsive, responsible and empowered rural communities
enjoying a higher quality of life; and
9.
That the CBPS shall have attained organizational
viability as evidenced by TESDA approval and recognition, with the assumption of at least 60%
self-sustainability and self-reliance as an enterprise and 40% from external
sources.
Project Description
As a learning institution, the CBPS-AFF (Community-Based Polytechnical
School for AgroForestry and Fisheries), using the dual training system of
TESDA, will primarily function both as an agro-forestry school and agricultural
extension whose major courses and strategies are founded on the development
framework of sustainable agriculture. The CBPS students earn while learning
because actual and direct on-farm (non-farm for non-agri-related courses)
activities (75%) comprise most of the learning time.
The students’ or someone’s household farm becomes a laboratory for
students and teachers alike. The students will only be graduated and given special
order and diploma if they can show concrete livelihood projects relevant to the
courses taken as well as the economic benefits derived therefrom. The students
may be grouped into production units to ensure higher productivity, increased
income and surplus. The CBPS is biased on food production for food sufficiency
and food security.
Consistent to the bias orientation of the CBPS, the following courses
will be offered:
A.
Required Courses – Pre-requisite to all other
courses offered:
1)
Value Formation
2)
Mathematics
3)
Languages : English and Filipino (basics)
4)
Biology
5)
Sociology
B.
Agricultural Technology – the following courses
may be taken for a 6 months to 3 years period which may vary depending on the
time, choice or preference of students and practical output
1)
Basic Animal Husbandry – Livestock and Poultry
Production
2)
Basic Agronomy – crop production (principally
food crops)
a.
Primary energy crops e. fruits and
nuts
b.
Legumes f.
tree crops
c.
Oil plants g. spices and beverages
d.
vegetables
3)
Crop Protection – Pest and Disease management
4)
Vegetable Production
5)
Inland and Fresh Water Fish Projection
6)
Irrigation and Drainage
C.
Environmental Science and Technology – the
following courses may be taken for a 6.months to 3-years period which may vary
depending on the time, choice or preference of students and practical output
1)
Agricultural and Natural resource Base
Management
2)
Integrated Soil and Fertility Management
3)
Plant and Fish Nursery Management
4)
Land and Water Management
5)
Community-Based Resource Management
6)
Organic farming Technology
D.
Processing Technology – related courses on
Entrepreneurship are required when students pursue entrepreneurial activities
1)
Crop Processing and Utilization
2)
Livestock Processing and Utilization
3)
Food Preparation and Preservation
4)
Herbal Medicine Production
5)
Organic Fertilizer Production
6)
Organic Pesticide Production
7)
Insect Repellent Production
8)
Storage and Warehouse Management
E.
Health Related Sciences
1)
Reproductive health
2)
Applied Nutrition
3)
First Aid and Home Remedies
4)
Para-Medical Care
5)
Para-Vetinerary health care & animal
maintenance
F.
Village Industry Arts and Crafts – include
courses that are most needed in line and design, production and repair of
machines, tools and equipment, basic and appropriate to the needs at the
community level
1)
Masonry 7.
Agri-based handicraft
2)
Wielding 8.
Small machine & small engine repair
3)
Plumbing 9.
Energy: solar, biogas, firewood and other
4)
Carpentry and Building Construction fuel
5)
Fabrication and Repair of Farm Tools/equipment
6)
Furniture making and wood working
Designing
and Farbrication/reproduction
Ø Water
resource devlpt – spring, wells and filters
Ø Energy
Development – solar and biogas, wind, rivers and creeks, water catchment,
waterfalls, etc
Ø Crop
production: power tillers, hand planter, hand weeder, hand seeder
Insect/rat
trap, threshers
Ø Livestock
production – feeders, trough, housing
Ø Hunting
and fishing – fish gears and fish trap
Ø Crop
processing, food preparation and preservation – grinder, smoker, sheller,
crusher, stoves and ovens, cooler
Ø Building
and road construction – bamboo splitter, wood preservation, self-help road
building, building materials and design
Ø Furniture
–students desks, chairs, tables and cabinets
Ø Sketching
and building plan
G.
Social Sciences and Community Development – this
includes courses animating village level or barangay level development
1)
Participatory area-based appraisal and analysis
2)
Women and community organizing (gender
sensitivity training)
3)
Rural youth organizing
4)
Barangay administration and management
5)
Strategic planning for community development
6)
Political economy
7)
Para legal training
8)
Cooperative Development
9)
Barangay Local Government (based on the local
Government Code)
H.
Entreprise and Entrepreneurial Development
1)
Introduction to
Entrepreneurship
2)
Agri-Business and Post-harvest technology
3)
Business Planning
4)
Feasibility Studies Making
5)
Simplified Bookkeeping
6)
Basic Accounting for Non-Accountants
7)
Advertising and Promotion
8)
Packaging Transport and Marketing
The CBPS also envisions and enterprise venture that is owned and managed
by the community. Agri-based projects (with less than P50,000 worth of assets)
include micro-entreprise activities as part of every students course work.
These activities are all planned and undertaken by students under the
supervision of TESDA-CETEC and the faculty in-charge, providing them with
income while developing their practical entrepreneurial skills. When organized
into village-level enterprises, a community based micro-financing scheme maybe
developed that will provide small loans, training and advisory services to village
entrepreneurs in support of their self-employment activities. His may be used
as a means of maximizing community participation in sustaining the CBPS.
CBPS seeks to increase and sustain the agricultural productivity and
income of the students’ household, geared towards supporting ecologically
sustainable development of forest and upland agriculture. This project will
address poverty among 5,000 marginal upland farmers and agrarian reform
beneficiaries and the critical state of upland agricultural resource bases in
at least several barangays of the parishes involved.
Along environmental concerns, CBPS will focus on agri-resource base
regeneration and conservation, establishing agro-forestry plantation with
maximum participation of the students and community. In the process, it aims to
provide alternative livelihood opportunities to CBPS students and their
families by improving their productive and institutional capacities while, at
the same time, develop responsible and new environmental ethics among them and
in the community. Again, motivation, organizing and mobilization of students
and their families are consciously maximized at participate for the
sustainability fo CBPS as a self-supporting institution.
