A sunburned grain Stamps of approval Pockets of gold in ... - adron.sr

On thefront linesby Leah Baroña-CruzA Filipino farmer contends withclimate and looks to scienceClimate change is on the agenda ofmany agricultural organizationsand experts are drafting battleplans on every front. But what dofarmers—the biggest stakeholders in thegame—have to say?About a month after TyphoonKetsana ravaged Luzon Island in thePhilippines (see Drowned harvest onpage 40 of Rice Today Vol. 8 No. 4), RiceToday went to the town of Morong inRizal Province to check on a particularrice farmer whose history is tied to theInternational Rice Research Institute.Serapio “Mario” San Felipe, now75, was one of 14 Outstanding Farmerawardees selected by IRRI from10 countries on the occasion of theInstitute’s 25th anniversary in 1985(see http://snipurl.com/v46k3 and Inthe Punjab—an outstanding farmerrevisited on pages 34-35 of Rice TodayVol. 8 No. 2). He and his wife, Melba(who died from a stroke in 2002), raisedtheir six children out of the productionof their rice farm, which they do noteven own.“Among all those OutstandingFarmers, I was the only one who did notown the land I till,” Mario says, withoutapologies. “Our children’s education wasthe priority.”The 3.8-hectare farm that Mariostill tills in a rice-sharing arrangementwith the landowner is along the coastof Laguna de Bay (see Google maps athttp://snipurl.com/v46zm), the largestlake in the Philippines. Although thelake is a generous source of irrigationwater during the rainy season (May toOctober), the water level often rises andfloods a good part of Mario’s land.Once in a while, as if monsoonrains are not enough trouble, a typhoonpicks up extra moisture from the Pacificand drops sheets of it on the first landmasses it touches—more often than not,the islands of the Philippines. TyphoonFORMER IRRI Director General M.S. Swaminathan (in a suit) and formerPhilippine President Ferdinand Marcos (right) congratulate Mario SanFelipe when he was named an Outstanding Farmer by IRRI in 1985.Mario's trophy stands among others ina dedicated spot in his home in RizalProvince, Philippines.Rice Today April-June 201027