The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
Alicia G. Ilaga, head of the BioTech program office of the Department of Agriculture and farmer-leader Mila Vibal Bognalbal of Barangay Joroan, Tiwi, Albay, were both conferred the 2023 Philippine Resilience Awards for women last October 12 at the PRA program held at the SMX Convention Center. They were among 10 final awardees from 44 semi-finalists.
The convenors of the PRA include the National Resilience Council, SM Prime, the Office of Sen. Loren Legarda, Climate Change Commission, Women International Network for Disaster Risk Reduction and the CP Romulo Foundation.
Ilaga, director of the Climate Resilient Agriculture Office, was nominated by DA Undersecretary Leocadio S. Sebastian for Rice Industry Development while Bognalbal of DA Regional Field Office 5 Adaptation and Mitigation Initiative in Agriculture (AMIA) program was nominated by Tiwi Municipal Agriculturist Jose Claudio and DA-RFO5 Technical staff Bryan M. Oro.
Ilaga, Sebastian’s colleague at the Philippine Rice Research Institute and batchmate at UP Los Banos, cooperated with each other in developing the DA Crop Biotechnology program.
“In 2016, we met again in Vietnam for the Climate Smart Villages program, a crucial milestone leading to the DA-AMIA Village approach that strengthened the community-based resilience,” Sebastian recalled.
With Sebastian now heading the Masagana Rice Industry Development Program (MRIDP), Ilaga’s position as head of the DA-Climate Resilient Agriculture Office became increasingly relevant. “The community-based adaptation (CBA) models pioneered by CRAO through the AMIA Village approach is now mainstreamed into the MRIDP.
Director Ilaga started from scratch in 2000, the DA Biotechnology program and effectively allocated available resources to support its development. “Through her innovative leadership and effective stakeholder partnerships, the Philippines successfully implemented Biosafety Regulations for Modern AgriBiotechnology and pushed frontiers of research, capacity enhancement and advocacy for agri and fishery biotechnology,” Sebastian said in his nomination of Ilaga.
Bognalbal, 59, is a registered farmer under the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture who organized last 2021 the Joroan Farmers and Fisherfolk Association, becoming its president with 68 members. Her advocacy included boosting the productivity of fisherfolks and farmers, safeguarding their rights and interests, enhancing their knowledge and skills to increase yield and improve their livelihood and build resilient enterprises for rural development.
Through her Climate Resilient Agricultural (CRA) practices, farmers increased their access to stress-tolerant varieties that have higher level of tolerance against prolonged drought, submergence and salt-water intrusion thereby increasing the yield despite hazards compared to conventional varieties.
She also pushed the hydroponics/aquaculture farming to manage water usage, resulting in the association becoming a lettuce producer. Her members plant vegetables to augment food supply during the lean months and help sustain the livelihood of her association members.
She also proposed and secured funding for the construction of Multi-Purpose Crop Processing Center cum Evacuation Center. She taught her members that to be successful they must be passionate, patient and persevering to the point of never giving up.
With Joroan Ville, farmers now have a one-stop-shop for CRA practices that includes rice stress tolerant varieties, odorless swine production techniques, fishery, poultry and protective shelter farming.