Serging's success in farming

Barangay Tabayag is an upland village an hour away from the town of Argao in Cebu, Philippines. In 1981, this was one of the first two villages assisted by World Neighbors. At that time, there were less than 100 families living in this village, which was almost devoid of the top soil needed for agriculture.

The story that follows is from Sergio Arobo, nicknamed “Serging,” a young man who grew up in the mold of a program that has inspired and helped community members improve their lives over 20 years.

“Traditionally in my village, farmers planted only corn, weeded their farms occasionally and used no form of fertilizer,” Serging said. “The corn produced by the farmers was never enough for their families. But that all began to change in 1981 when World Neighbors came to our village to teach contour farming. I became interested in the World Neighbors program when I witnessed the visible changes other farmers made in their farms. Their hillsides had become flat, making it possible for them to plow the field with carabao. I was very compelled when I saw the dull soil that had become fertile and productive.”

After graduating from elementary school in 1986, at 13 years old, Serging asked his father for permission to join an Alayon group that was practicing contour farming. Although he was very young, the group accepted him and Serging began to learn how to dig the hard ground and set stones along the contour lines.

His group was composed of seven members, and working only three times a week, they devoted one workday to each member’s farm. Because they worked on Serging’s farm only once every two or three weeks, it took the group 13 years to establish contour rock walls on Serging’s one hectare hillside farm.

After several years, more people began to participate in Alayon activities and they formed a formal community organization to keep the group’s momentum moving forward and address other community needs.

“Most people are now farming using the appropriate techniques because they were inspired by the food security that contour farming provides,” Serging said. “We have also seen many improvements in living conditions. When my grandparents were still alive, our corn harvest could not last for one month so we had to work on other people’s farms just to survive. I would get paid a can of taro per four days of work. My family mixed the taro with corn to extend our food supply. But now, we have corn from our farm all year-round and we do not have to work as paid laborers. Before contour farming, farmers planted three times a year trying to produce more corn. Now, we only plant twice a year, we have enough to eat and we even have surplus corn to sell in the town market. There have also been tremendous changes in our natural environment. We have more trees and an abundant water supply.”

After 10 years, Serging’s community could hardly believe they had accomplished all their plans. They now have a water system that provides water to all households in the village and electricity, which had seemed impossible before. They also have a cattle and hog fattening project, an added source of livelihood, which has developed assets of over $5,000. Vegetable gardens have generated around $1,500, and the women in the community now use abaca weaving as a special livelihood project.

Serging says that the most unbelievable accomplishments are the corn mill and the truck that transports their farm products to the city.
“Ten years ago when we started dreaming of a community-owned corn mill and a vehicle, some people laughed at us because they thought we were crazy,” he said. “Now, we have become a model in our municipality.”

Serging said that his secret to success has been raising livestock. “I think that this is key in paying for big family projects and creating a savings account,” he said. “We sell goats to be able to hire people to help me weed. We also sell chickens to be able to buy fish and other food supplies.”

The home that Serging and his family live in was built solely from money gained through raising livestock. First, he raised goats, sold some of them and then purchased galvanized iron sheets for the roof and plywood for the upstairs walls. He raised a cow and when it was sold, he was able to make concrete walls downstairs. To help pay for electricity, he raised a boar. Then he raised another boar so his family could add on to their home.

Serging’s family now has a formal savings account from the sales of smaller animals like chicken, goats and pigs.“People who migrated to other places are always surprised when they come back,” Serging said. “They say our village used to be bald where grasses hardly grow. They are amazed at how productive our soil has become. They also are inspired by the improvement of our living conditions, such as houses with roofs made of galvanized iron sheets instead of grasses and a working road network. People now have enough to eat from their own farms.”

After being in the program a few years, Serging got married, and he and his wife now have two children, 12-year-old Mary Grace and Glen Mark, who is 9.“My wife and I planned to have only two children, and we think that is enough because we do not want our children to experience the difficult lives we had when we were young,” he said. “We want them to get a proper education and finish college. We dream that Mary Grace will become a teacher in our village and Glen Mark will become a veterinarian because we need animal doctors in the rural areas. We are planning to do cattle fattening to help fund their college educations even though it is still years away.“

I cannot contain my happiness over all the success in our community. Our success is a gift from God after our hard work. We spent many nights developing our community plans and identifying resources to make them happen. Now, the lives of our community members have greatly changed. People’s ideas have expanded, and their visions are brighter. If World Neighbors had not come to us, we would have remained extremely poor, never knowing what we could become.”
(world neighbors)