Leo – Page 25 – Goducate … Go And Educate!

2011-12-02

Perfume-making added to livelihood skills in Laguna

The livelihood program (SELP, Self Empowerment and Leadership Program) in Laguna recently held a session to upgrade soap-making skills, to teach perfume-making, and to motivate the members. It was attended by around 30 people, consisting of 9 leaders, 8 members, and the rest who were newcomers.

SELP covers 6 villages. Establishing the program has helped attract members by indicating to them that there will be continuing training.

The skills upgrading in soap-making was required because some of the members had found that the detergent they were producing was not producing much froth. We have also been able to find a new source of raw materials that enables the women to pool together to buy more cheaply in bulk.

Members sell their soap products by going house to house. On average, a woman sells about 10 kg soap powder and 5 litres of dishwashing liquid a week.

The most eagerly awaited item of the day’s session was the perfume-making. The expected market for the products would be high-school and college students.

20111128_155949-400 — Paying attention to speaker

20111128_170132-400 — Demonstrating perfume-making

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A busy time on farm extension in Laguna

The Goducate Model Farm at Laguna has been a hive of activity, with staff and volunteers ploughing , weeding, and planting, and putting into practice all that was learnt during the 3-day training session by Ric Patricio and Vic de Paz from the Goducate Training Center in Iloilo.

The model farm was extended few months ago. An adjacent piece of land of 5000 sq m—ie, five times the size of the original farm—has been rented for 10 years.

2500 sq m have been allocated for sweet corn, 600 sq m for tomatoes, 600 sq m for bell peppers, and 1000 sq m for bitter gourds and string beans. The area between the drainage canals was planted with saplings of papaya alternating with lime, to prevent soil erosion.

Once the planting has been completed, work on container gardening and hydroponics will start.

The hope is that harvesting can start in February.

PA121496-400 — Learning about drainage from Vic

20111110_153440-400 — All hands on deck on the farm

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Workers on Goducate Model Farm undergo training

In early October, Ric Patricio and Vic de Paz, agricultural consultants at the Goducate Training Centre in Iloilo visited the Goducate Model Farm in Laguna to assess conditions there. About a week later they were back at the model farm to conduct a 3-day training session.

The first day of training was spent indoors, with Ric teaching about the importance of agriculture in daily life and about soil. Vic taught on methods of planting and dealing with pests and diseases.

Practical lessons started on the second day, on hydroponics and container gardening, on drainage systems, on measuring out plots for various crops, and on how to prepare carbonized rice hull (CRH), for mixing in with the soil before vegetables are planted. Rice hull has long been considered waste material left behind after milling of rice, but now CRH has been found to have many uses, one of them as a good soil conditioner and organic fertilizer. It is prepared by partial burning of rice hulls under low-oxygen conditions. The high-heat burning it undergoes makes it a sterile product.