Sustainable Agriculture Program for Philippine Refugees

A sustainable agriculture program was brought to refugees from South Philippines in Sabah by a team of experts on ‘natural or organic farming’ organized by Global Peace Mission (GPM) Malaysia in January this year

The GPM team first held lecture sessions in Kampung Bahagia, Sandakan and invited refugees to learn the techniques of ‘natural farming’. More than 30 people attended the lecture and demonstration by Ahmad Kamal Mohd Ali who introduced at least four sets of natural farming techniques, including fertilizer preparation and production, insect repellant,  fruit enzyme and fish amino acid (growth promoter).

Held at the residence of the village head, Sharif Hashim Sh. Titing, the participants receptively interacted with the lecturer during question and answer session. The Sharif expressed his gratitude, in behalf of the participants, to the CEO of GPM for giving them the opportunity to learn the techniques of natural farming.

All five invited participants from Mindanao and Sulu were not able to make it due to their failure to get international passport on time. But those in Sandakan made sure the techniques are relayed to Mindanao through their relatives on a brief visit to Sabah.

After two lecture sessions in Sandakan, the team moved to Semporna where another lecture was delivered to refugees in Kampung Selamat attended by 28 people. Similar reception was recorded among the Moro refugees in Semporna.

Follow-up visit

Towards the end of May, a follow-up visit was conducted by Ahmad Kamal Mohd Ali and Haji Zakaria Abdullah, GPM senior researcher, to ensure the participants made use of the knowledge they have gained from the lectures. The finding was positive, and there were efforts to reproduce the concoctions in larger quantities for distribution to others interested in the scheme.

A third visit by the GPM representative, Haji Zakaria Abdullah, resulted in the Kampung people organizing themselves to clear an island off Sandakan with an area of at least 50 acres to be planted to ‘lemongrass’ locally known as “serai” for possible international market that can fetch a price of up to RM5,000 per acre. Locally, however, it can also fetch a good market price at a minimum of RM2,000 per acre.