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I wish we had more time to spend at GerNil's Farm for this year's 10th Organic Agriculture Trip with ATI (Agricultural Training Institute). Gawad Saka Awardee Mr. Gerardo "Boy" Cordero is a wonderful host and conversationalist perhaps due to his wealth of experiences in organic farming. His farm is an accredited School for Practical Agriculture under ATI-RTC XII in SOCCSKSARGEN (SOX). We were here in SOX for 4 days to learn about more agricultural practices and farm tourism activities straight from the farmers. I highly recommend passing by this farm to eat, walk around and let Mr. Cordero impart some of his learnings, experiments and wisdom, especially if you have that dream to plant someday even in an urban setting like Manila! He loves coconuts, mangosteen, cacao, palay, isdaan, pigs and other farm animals. But first, let me tell you about the food there! Hehe.
If you've just booked that GenSan plane ticket and considering where to go, you can head to South Cotabato for a road trip and use this as your guide itinerary! It is still part of Region 12 (SOCCSKSARGEN), which is blessed with nature, farms, fruits, traditions of the T'boli weaving, waterfalls and fish. For our trip, we first headed to Sebul Farm where we stayed for the night, then some of our mates tried the newly opened Centro Ultimate Water Tubing experience! We weren't able to have interactions with the T'boli people since we ran out of time but you can also arrange to add that as a memorable cultural experience. Check out my first Lake Sebu trip here where we got closer to the lake. For when to go, September to November are the season for durian, mangosteen and marang if you'd like those hehe. Check out other places below:
I returned to the Land of Dreamweavers this week in Mindanao. Recently, Lake Sebu and the indigenous people of South Cotabato the Tboli was put in the spotlight again after Ms. Universe Catriona Gray's promotional video but still, people are apprehensive to go there. I remember being a novice blogger in 2011, I bravely went to Davao first then went back to GenSan for The Soccsksargen Experience Tour. We went to Gensan, South Cotabato and I even hopped on a bike to Sarangani. That time, it was always fish, as the highlights were the the tuna festival, the salmon tour and the fish port tour. This time around, I came back for the 10th season of the Organic Agriculture experience hosted by the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) of the Philippine Department of Agriculture! These experiences slowly endear me to this often feared southern part of the Philippines. We specifically went to SOX or SOCCSKSARGEN, which is part of Region 12 and comprises of South Cotabato, (North) Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos or Gensan. The region is rich in tradition, cultural assets, natural resources and farmers who are very passionate about organic farming like Mr. William Enriquez Sy and Ms. Mayette Sy of Sebul Farm in Lake Sebu! By visiting ATI-accredited organic farms, you get to see different farming methods and even get lots of tips and best practices from the owners ;)
Some of you may not know yet but the ATI is a very important branch of the Department of Agriculture. They reach out to farmers and equip them with technical know-how (farming, skills, marketing and even communication) so that these farmers may help out other struggling farmers in their community. ATI also helps in identifying and accrediting outstanding farms to Learning Sites, Extension Service Providers, Schools for Practical Agriculture and Farm Tourism Sites so that other people can go there and learn first hand. Like me, you can also tour around the Philippines and visit organic farms (read all the way to know how, check out my label Organic Journey to see where I've been since 2012)! Wouldn't you want to have this view?
