Almost two hectares of an Army camp in Tanay, Rizal, also home of the Jungle Fighters, will be converted to farmlands after soldiers turned to farming to prevent a looming food crisis as the nation battles the coronavirus pandemic.
The farmland will be utilized by soldiers from the 2nd Infantry Division is in partnership with DV Boer International Farms Corp., which has 20 farms located across Region 4A.
Major General Arnulfo Marcelo B Burgos Jr, Commander of 2ID which covers Southern Tagalog, the initiative is a three-pronged approach designed to keep the people afloat during, and even beyond, the Enhanced Community Quarantine period being implemented by the government to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
“First, the idle lands of vast military reservations which are to be developed will be put to good use, while soldiers will be performing their mandate to serve the people, this time in the field of food security,” Burgos said.
Through this program, the troops’ chances of being infected with COVID-19 will be lower because they will be exposed to the sun, which is one of the recommended preventive tips by health experts, he added.
Dexter Villamin, the president and CEO of DV Boer Farms, said food security should be ensured so that greater problems such as hunger and civil disobedience can be prevented.
Those are problems that might arise as a result of the measures to contain the current global crisis, he said.
“If the situation drags on, people will be hungry and the government will have to deal with another problem,” said Villamin.
As a private company investing in agriculture, DV Boer “feels that it is our social responsibility to avert such problem not only by providing products to serve as food but also to give our people a means of living while most of the industries are on shut down,” he said.
Villamin is an AFP Kapayapaan Awardee for 2018, and has long been advocating for food security through a network of “sub-farms” across the country.
DV Boer is a great contributor in promoting peace in many communities through the agricultural livelihood that they have given, thus, making employment available and local food affordable, the Army said.
Under the partnership, the farms will be providing technical assistance in livestock raising, crop production and food processing to the soldiers.
Volunteers from the community and paramilitary forces will be tapped to augment the manpower of the private farms that will be converted into “quarantine farm camps,” which is projected to produce 32 tons of farm-fresh food in 8 to 10 months.
About two-thirds of the produce will be donated to the needy and serve as one of the local government units’ sources of relief for their constituents, Villamin said.
The group of farms will provide free board and lodging to the soldiers while they are being trained in actual food production until the time they are ready to share the knowledge to their fellow soldiers.
“Filipinos, coming from a country that is primarily agricultural, has a natural skill for farming, on top of our innate resiliency. What we are doing is merely going back to the basics, tapping our strengths and heritage to survive this very challenging phase of our lives,” said Villamin.
Initially, around 50 civilian volunteers and CAFGU Active Auxilliaries coming from Tanay will augment MDT Farm, a sprawling 7-hectare agri-business located in Brgy Sampaloc, to bolster its production from its current inventory of almost 500 high breed goats, more than 300 chickens, native swines and imported turkeys.
Tanay Mayor Manuel Tanjuatco expressed his appreciation for being selected as the host municipality of this maiden project.
“I am optimistic that this out of the box program will turn out to be the extraordinary action that will help ensure my constituents’ survival during these extraordinary times,” Tanjuatco said.
Burgos said the project will make the camp self-sustaining, thereby ensuring that his unit will be able to preserve their forces through a steady source of nutritious food for soldiers to eat.
He emphasized that even the community around this military camp will benefit because the food supply in the market will be higher for the locals. At the same time, the troops’ produce can be shared to the neighboring villages, should the need arise.
“Aside from deploying more than 3,000 soldiers to man 340 Quarantine Control Points or QCPs, this is one of your soldiers’ humble contributions and act of solidarity with the Filipino nation as we all pray for this crisis to finally pass,” Burgos said.
Per the programs’ concept, the Department of Agriculture and Department of Science and Technology will sanction the undertaking in line with President Rodrigo Duterte’s call for a whole of nation approach in addressing the various problems which the country is, and will be, facing.
Burgos said that the idea to support the needs of the community and the people under quarantine was in line with the guidance of Sec. Dennis Hernandez, the Presidential Adviser for Southern Tagalog, that was coursed through the AFP’s Southern Luzon Commander, Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade.