DAUIN, Negros Oriental, Dec. 16 (PIA) --The Greenpeace
Philippines has led a group of ecological farming practitioners and advocates
from Negros Oriental, Bacolod, Bohol and Cebu in a two-day cruise to deliver
five tons of rice seeds and 1,000 kits of nutritious food seeds for farmers in
typhoon Ruby-stricken Dolores, Eastern Samar.
The 16 team member crew-farmer jumped
off today from Dauin town with rice seeds, root crops, vegetable seeds and
organic fertilizers loaded in two boats to help Dolores farming communities.
According to Daniel Ocampo, ecological
campaigner of Greenpeace said typhoon affected communities, Dolores where first
landfall of TY Ruby on December 6, will receive planting materials which
include corn, rice, mungbean, sweet potato, cassava, okra, pechay, eggplant,
malunggay among other vegetables.
Ocampo said some 1,000 target families
in Dolores town will also be taught to a techno-transfer home gardening to get
back on their feet.
In the spirit of “balaynihan,” a
Visayan word that connotes lending a helping hand to a neighbor in need, Ariel
dela Cruz, an organic farmer from Negros Occidental said “I want to reach out
to my fellow farmers by sending out seeds to help them with their livelihood
and to ensure food security in the region.”
Dela Cruz said “I times of crisis, it
is important for Filipinos to come together and help each other, offering
whatever aid or service they can give. With the constant threat of extreme
typhoons and drought, farmers should always have a secure seed supply within
their reach, without relying too much on external sources, to be able to
provide nutritious and diverse food to people.”
In Dolores, authorities reported that
almost 100 percent of the area’s farmland were damaged. The majority of the
damaged crops including coconut trees were smashed down by typhoon Ruby.
Farmers and experts agree in the face
of climate change, Philippine agriculture must become more resilient, said
Ocampo.
“This can be achieved through
ecological agriculture, a farming that does not use synthetic fertilizers,
pesticides or genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Instead, ecologically
agriculture uses the diversity of nature to help the soil retain more water and
stay healthier to provide nutrients to crops, while crop diversity also enables
farms to withstand different stresses, including climate shocks,” Ocampo added.
(mbcn/JCT/PIA7-Negros Oriental)