I see him often during ATI trainings. We usually say our greetings to each other and then part ways.
One day, I am doing an article about the training he is attending so I took the time to ask him for a short interview about his insights on that activity.
After getting the needed information for that particular article we continued with our conversation. From his insights on that certain training to his concerns of being an Agricultural Technologies (AT) then a little bit of his journey to Japan until he came to a point where he said, “I am grateful to ATI for the trainings. These were helpful to my career and as a person as well”.
Those pronouncements gave me the idea to write about him as my focus for the success story. For one, my idea of them being an Agricultural Extension Workers (AEWs) is somehow limited to their field-related works but this time Mr. Carlos goes beyond that. He became an instrument in helping not just the farmers but the community to have access to finances.
How has it all begun?
Mr. Rony V. Carlos participated in the Trainers Training Program on Cooperative Development and Management Program (CDMTP) for AEWs of CAR during Cycle 1 of its implementation from 2006-2010. It was then facilitated by Mr. Robert Cayanos.
With the duration, he patiently took and understood the course that equipped him with the needed knowledge, skills, and attitudes. These then helped him in planning and in community organizing.
The training program included courses on pre-membership education seminars; credit service and consumers bookkeeping and accounting; cooperative internal auditing; and cooperative management for which all courses were coupled with technology transfer skills. Further, the program contained upscale courses on resource person development and mobile training to successful cooperatives.
Timely, in 2010, a group in Kamog, Sablan, Benguet was in need of assistance to put up a cooperative. There, he came to the rescue. With the knowledge and skills gained during the CDMTP, he was confident and offered his help to set up the Kamog Sablan Credit Cooperative. The Coop was started by 30 individuals with Php2,100 as starting capital to become a regular member.
Similar to other novel projects, the starting days of the Coop were a challenge. With the trust given to him to lead the Coop- as the Chairperson of the Board of Directors, he did not give up. Together with fellow leaders, they made sure that the operations of the Coop will be sustained through the years.
The Coop was able to avail assistance from the various agencies because of the teamwork of the members and leaders. The Coop was granted cash of Php 100,000 from the Office of the Congressman. To support its farming activities, the Coop was provided with a hammer mill, power sprayer, hand tractor, and organic chicken production. In 2013, the Bureau of Soil and Water Management supported the group with a ram pump spring development worth PhP 500,000 benefitting five hectares of rice and vegetable production areas. Additionally, the Provincial Government of Benguet provided funding for the construction of their new Coop building.
The Department of Agriculture-CAR is supportive as well that it funded greenhouse through its High Value Crop and Development Program. Moreover, this 2017, another spring development program is seen to be realized with the funding from the DA Rice Program.
These provisions were materialized with Mr. Carlos leading the packaging of proposals in getting various supports. With the continuous commitment to bring in more support to the community through the Coop, Mr. Carlos will be more than willing to help.
As the chairperson of the Board of Directors, he made sure to come up with a policy that will serve both the interest of the members and the coop itself. One of the policies he is firmed to implement is to address the delayed loan payment of the members.
At present, the Coop has 80 members and is providing credit services such as regular, grocery, special, or emergency loans to the members. As part of the expansion of activities, the Coop is planning to offer petty cash, educational loans, and kiddy savings. Likewise, the Coop is set to apply as a service conduit of the Agricultural and Fisheries Financing Program (AFFP).
As of 2015, the Coop has total assets and liabilities of Php 467.283.39. (update as of 2016)
The Coop is instrumental in providing opportunities to young farmers from their community to go to Japan for the Young Farmers Exchange Program, a partnership forged between Japan and Benguet Province. The Coop endorses these young farmers so that they may avail of the program. As of date, there were already eight (8) individuals sent off and another six (6) awaiting their departure to Japan.
His earlier life…
Not an easy life but filled with learnings, perhaps the definition of his early life. With both parents already deceased, he was prompted to stop schooling for a while and looked for jobs to support himself. There, he landed to do farm works.
He was given the trust to lead the youth as the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) Barangay Chairperson. This opened an opportunity for him. As SK Chair, he became a scholar of the Department of Local Interior and Local Government (DILG) and was able to finish his studies. A graduate of Bachelor in Agriculture at the Benguet State University, he first worked as a farmer coordinator at Abersan Marketing Corporation from July to December of 2001.
Molded to become a public servant in his earlier years, he again served his barangay as Barangay Chairman from July 2002 until December 2005. With an option to serve in similar ways other than in politics, he joined the Office of the Municipal Agricultural Officer (MAO) of MLGU Sablan in January 2006 as an Agricultural Technologist (AT).
Life as an AT
During his stay at the MAO, he was given the chance to go to Japan as a trainee. There, he was assigned to a cut-flower farm. One of the technologies worth emulating from the experience was that he acknowledged that pests, diseases, and water management are very crucial in cut-flower production. Accordingly, to avoid bacteria wilt, soil sterilization and minimal watering during the flowering stage should be observed.
Prior to the completion of his cooperative development training program, he also attended and finished the training program on Farm Enterprise Development for Municipal AEWs from 2007 to 2008. The courses in the program comprised general courses on farm enterprise development; farm enterprise bookkeeping and accounting; farm enterprise plan development; and product processing, packaging, and marketing. Upscale courses were expository tours to successful farm enterprises and resource person development. This course reinforced his confidence to keep on serving his place. Presently, he serves as the focal person for Rice, Organic Agriculture (OA), and Good Agricultural Practice. Remarkably, as an offshoot of his OA advocacy to the LGU officials of Sablan, a municipal ordinance was approved and adopted stipulating support for the OA program and allocating 5% of the fund for such.
Life lessons worth sharing
Mr. Carlos, is humbly an AT at Sablan, Benguet but showed that he can also excel in providing other forms of technical assistance to the farmers. He took the courage to initiate the establishment of their Coop. He sustained his persistence and dedication to making the Coop a channel for helping its members and the community to have financial access.
Basically, I asked him, what are your life’s lessons you want to share? “It is having a good attitude towards other people, especially to the clientele –and maintaining that good relationship”, he answered.
Privileged to serve the people, he still finds in his heart the joy of doing his works and is more encouraged to excel to leave a good legacy, especially to his five children.
Doing an interview with him and writing his story further opened my understanding of the life of an AEW. Life for them is about serving people in ways they can. They help facilitate the development of other people and seek other and better opportunities not just for their families but for the community as well. Mr. Rony Carlos showed all of these and as he puts it in words- “I will keep on doing these”. (I will go on)
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