It was another night of gala, show, and of course trophies and plaques as the TOFARM 2014 continues to recognize top and achieving farmers in the Philippines. Just recently this mommy was able to attend the awarding ceremony of TOFARM. The highlight of the awarding was Jose E. Amador of Sorsogon City who was hailed as TOFARM 2014 Farmer of the Year. He is a former Magsasakang Siyentista who pioneered pili farming here and boosted livelihood and tourism in his province for his innovative, organic, sustainable and integrated farming.

TOFARM did save the best for last, as Mr. Amador was the last to be awarded among other farmers who's been innovative enough with their activities in the community. This will definitely entice other farmers to work hard and development not only for himself but to the whole country.

Amador led 55 other awardees in the categories of Livestock Farming, Fisherfolk, Urban/City Farming, Family Farming, Agri-Initiatives, Agri-Innovator, Agri-Entrepreneur, Agri-Cooperative, Local Government Unit, Young Farmer, Woman Farmer and Farmer in the Awards Night of The Outstanding Farmers of the Philippines (TOFARM) held at the Rizal Ballroom of the Shangri-La Manila Friday, January 30.



Northern farmers from Isabela, the Ilocos Region, Baguio, Ifugao and Isabela again won most of the awards (13), followed by farmers from Zamboanga, Lanao del Norte and Cotabato province in Mindanao (10), Southern Luzon (6), the Visayas (5), the Bicol Region (5) and the NCR (1). The annual nationwide search for outstanding farmers is conducted by the Junior Chamber International Philippines and Universal Harvester Inc.

First instituted in the 70s by JCIP, the search was revived in 2012 by JCIP and UHI to give due recognition to the unsung heroes of the agricultural sector and to encourage more young farmers to take up farming as a profession and vocation.

Other winners in the Farmer category alongside Amador are Isidro C. Bacani from La Union, Romeo S. Pidoc of Camarines Norte, Arturo D.Pasacas of Samar, Fredimor G. Pueblos of Lanao del Norte, Juan C. Mangcao of Lanao del Norte and Genesis T. Ocapan of Zamboanga del Sur.

Woman Farmer winners meanwhile were : Desiree B. Duran of Bulacan (Gold), Cresencia M. Tuiza of Laguna and Agnes M. Asuncion of Ilocos Norte.

Young Farmer winners were Alex O. Aborita of Leyte (Gold) and Christopher E. Balquin of Sorsogon.

Urban/City Farmers were also recognized in the awards. Danilo M. Agliam of Baguio won Gold in this category, followed by Elizabeth A. Garceron of Laguna and Ronie A. Maloloy-on from Cebu.

Fisherfolk who received awards were Danilo A. Santos of Isabela (Gold), Valie J, Baricanosa of Laguna and Ludovico R. Villanueva of Dagupan.

Livestock Farmer winners were Delia C. Dejan of Calamba, Laguna (Gold), Arcadio F. Belen, Jr. of San Ildefonso, Bulacan and Arnulfo B. Corpus of Ilocos Norte.

Family Farmers who represented entire families working together on farming ventures are Benito P. Travilla and Family from Cotabato (Gold), Daniel and Remia Apostol Family from South Cotabato and Nestor C. Acosta and Family of Ilocos Norte.


There were also Agri-Innovator winners (Carlos S. de la Cruz of Leyte, Gold; Ariston D. Calvo of Kabacan, Cotabato and Rodolfo C. Tuangqui of Polangui, Albay) and Agri-Entrepreneur winners (Lucrecia M. Neri of Cotabato, Gold; Troy D. Bumagat of Ormoc, Leyte, Alberto C. Calsada of Ilocos Norte and Abraham A. Flores of Isabela Province).

TOFARM 2014 also awarded groups that contributed improvements and opportunities for livelihood in their communities. The Carael Elementary School in Pangasinan won Gold in the Agri-Initiatives category, followed by the San Isidro Upper Rural Improvement Club & Women’s Association of Lanao del Norte, the City Agriculture Office of San Carlos City, Pangasinan and the Bubuyan Elementary School of Calamba, Laguna.

The local government of Barangay Holy Spirit in Quezon City (Gold) topped the Local Government Unit category, in which I'm very proud of because this is our Barangay, followed by the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist in Sorsogon, the City Government of Calamba and the Local Government Unit of Tabina, Zamboanga del Sur.

More agricultural groups received Special Citations for their achievements in agriculture, while other groups and cooperatives were recognized as Kabalikat Partners for working hand in hand with the TOFARM sponsor and organizers to raise awareness and understanding for the farm programs of TOFARM.


“Our farmers have undergone numerous challenges in the past, particularly so in 2013 when our farmers in the Visayas experienced Typhoon Yolanda. Through TOFARM, we want to show our farmers nationwide that support for them is always present, and that their efforts will always be recognized and put to good use. We are committed to educate, uplift, recognize and inspire our Filipino farmers to keep on going and strive toward our common goals,”, said Dr. Milagros Ong How, Executive Vice President of Universal Harvester Inc. TOFARM Project Director Rommel M. Cunanan said, “Philippine agriculture can only succeed if we involve more youth, more women, more sectors and groups in farming. Through TOFARM, we wish to call the attention of all sectors to support our agricultural sector and in the process contribute to our success as a nation. We thank our Organizing Partner, Universal Harvester, Inc. for supporting this project all the way from its reintroduction in 2012 to the present.

To know more about TOFARM just visit their website  www.tofarm.org.

Magsino Family, Outstanding family-farmer 2013 from Goa, Camarines Norte

We've featured TOFARM here before and again they are honoring farmers. Read what their story is all about.

The best farmers from various parts of the country will be feted in TOFARM AWARDS 2015 – the third consecutive Outstanding Farmers of the Philippines (TOFARM) recognition awards staged by Universal Harvester Inc.

The yearly awards honors the country’s top agricultural groups and individuals who have imparted valuable contributions to their families, communities, provinces, and the country as a whole through best agricultural practices, innovations, initiatives and systems. The recognition awards will be held at the Rizal Ballroom of the Makati Shangri-La Manila.

“It is an initiative begun in the 1970’s by the then Philippine Jaycees that has been reinvented to recognize the resiliency, ingenuity and strength of our hardworking Filipino farmers. This is open to all Filipino farmers, fisherfolk, animal raisers, cooperatives, farm communities, organizations, education/academe, agriculture scientist, LGUs and public employees, and business entities in rural and urban areas,” said Rommel Cunanan, TOFARM Project Director.

Outstanding Agriculture Initiatives by the Hibiga River Irrigation System Irrigators Association Inc. of Polangui, Albay

Candidates for Best Farmer, Fisherfolk, Woman Farmer, Livestock Farmer, Young Farmer, Agri-Innovator, Urban City Farmer, Agri-Entrepreneur make up the individual awards category, while candidates for Family Farmer, Agri-Cooperative, Agri-Initiative and Local Government Unit make up the group awards category.

Besides the awards to be received in the various categories, Farmer of the Year honors will be given to the most outstanding among the awardees. Winners in each category will receive gold or silver plaques plus cash prizes.
The TOFARM Awards wants to refocus attention on the importance and viability of agriculture as an industry and a lucrative profession, Cunanan added. The program, he said, had grown by leaps and bounds since its re-introduction in 2012. Besides recognizing the achievements and contributions made by farmers to Philippine society and the economy, the program has also extended real help to farmers by providing them with education opportunities, livelihood initiatives, farm inputs assistance, income earning schemes and observation (lakbay-aral) tours abroad.

In 2013, the program went beyond the award system. Several regional and provincial promotions were conducted nationwide, coupled with Family Financial Management seminars for the Farmers. Alongside these promotions are domestic and international lakbay-aral tours in areas with advanced agricultural practices. Expanding further in the last part of 2013 and early 2014 is the implementation of the “Adopt-a-Farmer” program, this was massively initiated in the Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) stricken areas. Agriculture communities were adopted to support their effort “BACK-TO-FARM” (Balik-Saka) and facilitate their early rehabilitation. The program is now in Laguna, spearheading our effort in the Luzon area, further escalating in Mindanao this 2015. These newly revitalized communities are called TOFARM Villages, which are given assistance, from agricultural production to marketing, and personal finance management.

Dr. Milagros Ong-How, Executive Vice President of UHI who has been recognized by academic institutions, local and international award-giving bodies for her contributions to agriculture, echoed the sentiment of TOFARM to help Filipino farmers as a whole, and especially those who have faced challenges, setbacks and oftentimes oppressive realities of their farming livelihoods.

“Through TOFARM we want them to know that they are not alone. Their work is being recognized, their contributions are being acknowledged, and we stand with them in their continuous struggle to obtain their basic needs,” Dr. How said.

Outstanding Farmer 2013 Rodolfo S. Benavidez

Every year, TOFARM tries to create better awareness for the plight of Filipino farmers and seek support for their advancement. In 2013 TOFARM launched a Photo and Video Contest that showcases the ingenuity and resiliency of the farmers. This year TOFARM is launching an Indie Film Festival with the Filipino farmer and Philippine agriculture as its focal point.

For more details about TOFARM, visit www.tofarm.org

 


Sharing the unsung heroes of Philippine agriculture are getting due recognition with the program TOFARM or the The Outstanding Farmers of the Philippines Search and Awards as they launched last year, November 2013, a contest that depicts or lionizes farmers, fisherfold and other nurturers of the soil.

The photographs and videos are on display at the Atrim of Resorts World Manila on March 29 and 30 after the awarding of the best photos and videos at 3pm on Sunday March 30 at the Passion Restaurant of Resorts World Manila.

Contest categories of the TOFARM Photo and Video Contest are: DSLR Photos, Non DSLR Photos and Videos taken with an HD Camera. The entries must depict farmers at work on the field, with their carabao, or just having fun. The photo and video contest may tackle all fields or a sectors of farming and agriculture and may depict farmers in the fishery, livestock and poultry raising sector as well. The contest was open to all photo and video enthusiasts nationwide as it is one of the intitiatives of TOFARM to promote the farming and agricultural sectore of the Philippines as widely as possible.

Prizes at stake are as follows:

DSLR Photos First Prize - PhP60,000. Secon Prize - PhP40,000. Third Prize - PhP30,000.

Non-DSLR Photos First Prize - PhP40,000. Secon Prize - PhP30,000. Third Prize - PhP20,000.

Video Entries (One minute long) First Prize - PhP60,000. Secon Prize - PhP40,000. Third Prize - PhP30,000.

TOFARM is a prestigious recognition program launched by the Philippine Jaycees (JCI Philippines) and Universal Harvester, Inc (UHI) in 2012. Now on its third consecutive year, TOFARM in 2014 is a partnership between aUHI and JCI Phiippines' Mindanao Chapters of Area 5. The broad and long-term goal of TOFARM is to celebrate the important role of the farming sector in the Philippines and to inspire young people to return to the land and make agriculture a flourishing means of livelihood.

TOFARM seeks to identify and pay trivute to outstanding farmers, fisherfold, farm communities, cooperatives, animal raisers, women farmers, LGU's organizations, scientists, the academe, as well as business entities in rural and urban areas. The nomination period of TOFARM 2014 begins this April.  

Recently TOFARM 2014 also introduced BACKTOFARM, an agricultura rehabilitation project for farmers and farming organizations in provinces devastated by Typhoon Yolanda. The farming community in those provinces are provided with farming-specific aid ad resource such as technical assistance, seeds, and other other ways to reinvigorate their farms and assist in the implementation of sustainable farming methods.
For more information please visit www.tofarm.org or visit the Facebook page www.facebook.com/pages/Tofarm

I have never been to a farm and haven't experience farming so I could say that I'm one of those people who are not into farming but would love to experience farm life. I didn't thought that there are group or organization that recognizes the effort of the farmers. I was lucky enough to know this and witnessed the media launch of TOFARM or The Outstanding Farmers of the Philippines.


Through Junior Chamber International, Philippines and Universal Harvester, Inc. this award giving body was formed to recognize the hard work of Filipino farmers, men and women. Farmers today or the modern farmers considers those in the agri-business, fisher folk, animal raisers, co-ops, farm communities, scientists, the academe, LGUs, both urban and rural. This award giving body aims to revive the glory of the Philippine agriculture by promoting farming as noble, lucrative profession, especially for the youth. This is because the agricultural sector plays the most crucial part in our survival as a people.


Today's generation are not interested anymore in tilling their fathers land. They prefer to choose the city jobs or become doctors, lawyers and engineers. The JCI and UHI got their idea to revive farmer from the idea of our National hero Jose Rizal which once said that Not all can be doctors. Some will have to stay and cultivate the land. That is why the JCI and UHI's mission and vision is to make agriculture attractive for the next generations and for the entire country once again. And for a long term goal JCI and Universal Harvester, Inc. wants the Philippines to excel in farming, to be competitive on the world stage, to produce more so that we can feed our own and not to rely on importing crops and produce.

TOFARM Project Chairman Rommel Cunanan disclosed that they will give out 11 awards for this year, six for the individual category and five for the group category. They'll be looking for the awardee from Farmer, Fisherfolk, Livestock, Agri-Entrepreneur, young Farmer, Agricultural Innovator and Urban/City Farmer for the individual category while on the group category will be from Agriculture Cooperative, Family Farmer, Local Government unit, Agriculture Initiatives and People's Choice.


The nomination period for Outstanding Farmer candidates begins August 1 and will end on September 30. Validation and Judging of nominees will take place in October and November, while the Awarding takes place in December.

Nominations may be submitted as hard copy or sent online to www.tofarm.org. Nomination forms may be downloaded from the website.

For more information, call the TOFARM Hotline 709-5001 to 54, fax 709-5006 or email info.tofarm@gmail.com.