Around 100 farmers in Maria and Lazi from the Liloan-Saguing Farmers and Fishers Association (LISAFFA) and Triple M Farmers Association (Triple M) gathered in September 2022 as they took the initial steps of ploughing and harrowing a total area of 8.5208 hectares from 18 separate parcels of land in preparation for planting peanuts.
Both LISAFFA and Triple M are beneficiaries of the Community Empowerment thru Science and Technology (CEST) program of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
CEST aims to build progressive, empowered, and resilient rural communities.
The program is delineated to empower the poorest and most depressed communities in the country through Science and Technology interventions in the five entry points of health and nutrition, water and sanitation, basic education and literacy, livelihood/economic enterprise development, and disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.
DOST 7, DOST-PSTC Siquijor, and Siquijor State College (SSC) continue to converge their efforts in the implementation of CEST after the latter was successful with the Bitaug Small Coconut Farmers Association (BISMACOFA) in Bitaug, Enrique Villanueva, Siquijor between 2020 and 2021.
Members of LISAFFA of Maria, Siquijor and Triple M of Lazi, Siquijor bore the heat of the sun as they sow peanuts under the Community Empowerment thru Science and Technology of the Department of Science and Technology. (DOST-PSTC Siquijor)
DOST-PSTC Siquijor Provincial Director Engr. Mario de la Peña and SSC Extension Director Dr. Philna Palongpalong maintain a strategic plan to make peanuts the commodity to be sustainably abundant in the province of Siquijor in line with DOST 7’s vision of focusing on a single product for the development of a value chain.
In October 2022, members of LISAFFA and Triple M completed planting peanuts in their respective areas.
The peanuts will be ready for harvest after 100 days. (PR/Jose Aldous Arbon II, SRA-IO, DOST7)
