Iloilo – Page 4 – Goducate … Go And Educate!

2010-07-262010-07-30

Goducate Training Center starts training even before it’s built

We are presently frantically trying to get the necessary building materials on to the site of the Goducate Training Center before the rains make it impossible for heavy laden trucks to enter the site. Thankfully, the rains that have been flooding the rest of the Philippines and the neighbouring areas around our site have not
dropped on our site!

We had originally planned to take in our first intake of trainees at the end of the year when the Multi-Purpose Hall (MPH) is completed. However, when we saw the plight of our neighbours – the poor, subsistence rice-farmers – we decided to start training them first!

The Camp Goducate seminar on hybrid rice production on July 24 at the Sto. Angel Barangay Hall is all set. Thirty farmers are attending along with 30 observers (barangay officials, guests, speakers, and facilitators). Mayor Victor Saclauso, Provincial Board Member Demy Sonza (representing the 2nd district of Iloilo that includes the town of San Miguel), Department of Agriculture Regional Director Larry
Nacionales, and Dean Reynaldo Dusaran of the CPU College of Agriculture, Resources, and Environmental Sciences have signified their intention to be at the seminar site on July 24. Already the people of Sto. Angel are ecstatic that some VIPs are coming to their place.

Goducate Training Center hopes to help Asians help themselves – even before it’s ready to receive its “official” trainees!

Charity begins at “home”!

2010-06-302010-07-14

Proposed Agricultural and Agricultural related projects at Camp Goducate, Iloilo

Our agricultural team at the Goducate Training Center in Iloilo, Philippines have proposed several interesting projects for the Center.

Agriculture is an important part of the training of Goducate workers because they will be working among poor communities in Asia, and the majority of the poor in Asia still live in rural communities. We hope that Goducate workers will be able to help poor Asians to maximally utilize the land around them through modern, sustainable, small-scale farming.

Therefore, our agricultural planning team is designing a living laboratory of good agricultural practices in the Camp. Our trainees will be involved “hands on” with these different projects during their training period with us so that they will be able to transfer some of what they have learned at the Camp to the communities in which they will eventually work.

Some of the proposed agricultural projects on the Camp are:

Hybrid rice production using organic fertilizer and organic integrated pest management practices.

Fish farming in rice fields.

Vermi-composting for production of organic fertilizer.

Bio-intensive vegetable farming.

Fruit orchard with durian, jackfruit, marang, seedless pomegranates, mangosteen, cocoa, etc.

Livestock, small ruminant (goats) and poultry farming.

Forage area of grass and legumes for fattening of cattle and small ruminants.

Chicken and duck egg production

Cut-flower production.

Apiculture (bee-farming) for honey production and increased pollination of plants on camp-site.

We hope that our trainees will learn the principles and practices of good agriculture and be able to transfer what is suitable to the communities that they will eventually work in!

Good agricultural practices provide the fastest ways to help poor Asians help themselves!

2010-06-042010-06-16

Impounding lake takes shape at Goducate Training Center

The impounding lake for irrigation of our rice-fields and vegetable farms at the Goducate Training Center in Iloilo has begun to take shape.

This is the first thing that needs to be done on the site so that we can start planting our rice and vegetables. We will need this to feed the first intake of trainees which we hope to have by the last quarter of this year.

It is a race against time because of the coming rainy season which is already due. It will be very difficult for the heavy equipment to enter the site and the fields after the rains come.

The photos show the construction of the impounding lake and the dumping of the excavated earth to the site of the Multi-Purpose Hall.

Excavated earth becomes base of Multi-purpose Hall

We are also racing to gravel the roads so that vehicles can come in even during the raining season to bring in the building materials. If sufficient funds are available we can start building the roof of the Multi-Purpose Hall to shelter the building materials from the rain. If the roof is up before the rains then building of the other parts of the MPHall can be done even during the rainy season. Otherwise, we will waste 6 months of time during the rainy season.

Another urgent work which needs to be done is the bringing in of electricity from the highway. Electricity is needed to run some construction equipment.

Also, the gate and fence needs to be installed to protect our crops and building materials.

The remaining parts of the camp can be done later as funds become available.