Caltex finances 5-year agro-forestry project

Caltex Philippines, Inc. is financing a five-year agro-forestry project with an allocation of P10 million to increase agricultural production and protect and preserve the environment.

The project called Good Roots (Ugat ng Buhay), is a livelihood and environmental research and development program designed to rehabilitate the environment by integrating various tree species in the farm tilled by farmers.

The Good Roots project area is in Lobo town located in the Southeastern coast of Batangas, an hour’s drive from Caltex Batangas Refinery in San Pascual. It has a population of 32,422. Lobo is composed of barangays, spread out in 19,268 hectares of largely agricultural land.

Good Roots project covers four barangays–San Miguel, Tayuman, Calo and Jaybanga —with a total number of 755 households. The Good Roots team composed of sociologist/human ecologist, agricultural officer, chief extension officer, and administrative assistant conducted a socio-economic and environmental survey to determine the number of households, the number and appropriate trees and crops to be planted in the area.

The survey showed that mahogany and eucalyptus trees, carrots, ginger, eggplants and ampalaya grow very well in the area. Knowing the seedling requirements of the participants, the Good Roots team set up a communal nursery where seedlings were given free to the participants. The distribution of seedling depends on the size of the area to be planted. But the maximum number of seedling given to the participants is 1,000. Since mahogany and eucalyptus take longer to mature, farmers were encouraged to plant short and medium term crops to augment their income while waiting for the trees to mature.

To encourage self-reliance the team taught the farmers how to set up their own nursery. This way, the farmers are given more leeway in choosing the kind of seedlings they want to plant in the area.

Thus far, the team has been successful in its mission as almost all the participants have been their own nursery. The team organized the participants into an association and they elect their own officials.

The project has a life span of five years which ends on Sept. 30 this year. The creator of the Good Roots project Dr. Ben Wallace, director of International Office of the US-based Southern Methodist University of Dallas, Texas, and the team members invited some media people to tour the project area.

The project was fully funded by Caltex Philippines and launched in coordination with Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Southern Methodist University. According to Dr. Wallace, the Good Roots project is a good example on cooperation among business sector, government and the academe with a singular purpose of increasing food production thereby uplifting the quality of life of rural farmers and maintaining ecological balance.

The first Good Roots project was launched in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte in 1992. Needless to say, the Pagudpud project was a success that prompted Dr. Wallace to replicate it in Lobo, Batangas.

"The satisfaction that we get from this project is that we are able to walk out of the job with the knowledge that we have done something to help farmers boost their production and income and at the same time maintain ecological balance," Dr. Wallace said.

If the feasibility study is favorable, the next target area of Good Roots project is La Union province where the biggest depot of Caltex Philippines Inc. is located – PNA