Mindanaotoday.com | Bukidnon nextgen farmer considers cardava banana as a life saver
By: Chelsea Asiñero
BANANAS are such multi-purposed fruits.
No matter the maturity, you can literally do anything with it and it will turn into a delicacy.
Banana candies, jams, purees, and chips, to name a few of the many delights.
Did I mention the banana ketchup, was originally a Filipino-made recipe? Who would have thought it would be such a good alternative to tomatoes.
Bananas are also a go-to snack for students or workers after hours, the sweet crunch of banana cues, “turon” or “maruya” or even the buttery sweet flavor of “ginanggang” that rests on one’s palate.
The Leny Rudy Caballero (LRC) Diversified Farm offers an impressive banana plantation situated at Malitbog, Bukidnon. Owned by Rodulfo “Rudy” Caballero and wife Elements Caballero, this Learning Site for Agriculture (LSA) of the Agricultural Training Institute-Regional Training Center X (ATI-RTC X) thrives not only in banana cardava but also in organic concoctions, organic pigs, tilapia fishpond, and in implementing Farmer’s Field School (FFS).
One of their children, Rollins, regularly assists his father in managing the farm. Having lived experiences of the hardships of their family, his testimony proves the bright side brought by persistence.
Before investing in bananas, the family had a fair share of trial-and-error, venturing from one plantation to another. The Caballeros’ initial livelihood was corn.
Rollins recalled he would help out in farm chores as a child. Harrowing, scything, and harvesting corn on fields were his and his older brothers’ weekend routine.
They would follow their mother around chores and assist her. “Kung asa si mama mag trabaho, tua sad kami magtabang,” he shared.
However, their corn harvest is not exchanged in monetary value.
At the age of seven, he clearly remembers having to carry three gallons of corn and walk for seven kilometers to barter the harvested corn for “bulad” (dried fish).
For them it was a matter of survival. Even so, the corn livelihood was not conducive with their area of steep and sloping landscape. Considering it as a loss, they ventured into cassava and abaca.
The crops were supposedly good for generating income, but they discovered that the said commodity’s shelf life is not that good.
The family did not stop after experiencing failure after failure in their farming venture. Crops may decompose but not the family’s fighting spirit and persistence.
They attempted their luck in bananas, and this time, circumstances favored them as the buying price of the fruit rose also.
Fast forward to becoming an ATI-Learning Site for Agriculture (LSA) and a TESDA-accredited School for Practical Agriculture (SPA), it was a farming journey not many have bear witness of the family’s struggle in terms of experiencing failures and dealing the naysayers.
As they pursued banana farming, Rudy Caballero was invited in 2009 to participate in the search for Most Outstanding Cardava Banana Farmer of the Year by the Department of Agriculture (DA) in Malitbog, Bukidnon.
As the stars aligned for them, Rudy won not just for that year but up until 2011.
He earned the title, “Hall of Famer” and was recommended to be a “Magsasakang Siyentista.”
The Caballero family now incomes an average of 10 thousand pesos a month, and can even double their monthly income if factoring in their bestselling banana chips and a bountiful harvest from their tilapia fishpond.
In terms of discipline, had work, and persistence, Rollins look up to his father Rudy as the paragon of a working family man, and a farmer at that.
Qualities he wants to emulate and become successful on his own in the near future.
Rollins have witnessed both his father and mothers struggle and hardships. He wants to continue the progress of his parents and even expand more on the farm.
At present their target is to become a tourism site in Malitbog, and to gain more clients as well as widen their market.
The farming journey of the Caballero family proved that success is not dependent on social status, but of hard work and persistence.
“Bisan pa ug wala ka naka-graduate ug kolehiyo basta maayu kalang mu-diskarte, mas mapalambo pa nimo ang imung pag venture sa agriculture,” Rollins said.
For more of LRC Diversified Farm and banana processing, watch the episode 28 of our Season 1 AgriStoryahay sa ATI via this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
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