The local government of New Lucena, Iloilo has joined PRDCI in upholding sustainable agriculture. The leadership of Mayor June Mondejar agreed to support an integrated area development project in barangay Guinobatan which is about 10 kilometers north of the Poblacion going towards Cabatuan town. The farm is named JLP Demonstration Farm. It is 30 hectares wide and is owned by the Parreñas family.

Some features that have were proposed by the LGU include the passing of a municipal ordinance allotting a space for organic farm products in the town market, and integrating organic food in the municipality’s health program by encouraging residents, especially elementary school students, to eat organic food.

“As present, our organic vegetables produce is not enough to provide for the demand in the public market. Vendors buy our vegetables in bulk and sell them in retail,” said farm administrator Rosendo “Nonoy” Parreñas.

Cultivated in the integrated area development are rice, corn and peanuts, harvesting of which have started since August. Trees have been planted along the hilly portions of the farm. Species also include those to be used as fodder for cows. The farm is using organic fertilizer and bio-insecticides. Four ponds have been constructed for tilapia culture.

Nonoy Parreñas said that the purpose of the project is to cultivate all available areas of the farm “in order to maximize production and increase the income of farmers”.

The property has seven tenant-families who pay a fixed amount as their rental for cultivating the land.

Farmers who help sell the produce, especially the women, get 40% of the selling price while the owner gets 60%.

PRDCI conducted a series of trainings on Integrated Diversified Farming Systems (IDFS) starting June 1, 2005 with a gender training and identification of needs of farmers in the area. What followed were trainings on alternative pest management (APM), natural farming system (NFS), system of rice intensification (SRI), vermi casting and Sloping Agricultural Land Technology (SALT).

Nonoy Parreñas related that a few months since he started overseeing the cultivation of the farm, he would pass by a number of lumberyards and poultry houses to ask for sawdust and chicken manure to be used as organic fertilizer.

“Later on, people from these establishments started saving the materials for themselves because they have come to value the importance of these organic materials to their farms,” he said.