Over the weekend, I received a mail from Tito Tenazas (rtenazas@rogers.com). The letter says:

I would have wanted to just send him a reply but I thought that the answer to Tito's question would also be of great interest to many others.

So I decided to print here in Braveheart Notes my reply to Tito Tenazas.

Dear Tito,

Thanks for the compliments. I decided to establish a website for my goats and other farm activities to stir people's interest in agriculture which I believe is the best foundation of a sustainable Philippine economic development.

Agriculture, in spite of so much media hype about government support, is a neglected sector in our country. Take a look at the vast areas in the countryside which are not planted to anything or at the faces of our farmers waiting for guidance from government on what to do in their farms.

So much can be done. Unfortunately many of our policy-makers, including our current Secretary of Agriculture, were born and brought up in the big city and are unaware of needs of the rural population.

I hope that by providing information on what can be done in the farm, as I am doing it in my farm, I will be able to share with our fellow farmers things that they may learn from.

That's pretty serious stuff, huh? Yes, I am serious in my effort to redirect Philippine agriculture through information advocacy. In fact, I have been moving around the country convincing our officials to look at rubber trees as ideal reforestation trees and magnificent income-earning crop as well.

We have to steer Philippine agriculture towards being market-oriented and liberate our people from the belief that sustenance agriculture (i.e. the bahay-kubo concept) is both idyllic and romantic.

Now, back to your question on why the goats are penned. This method was actually introduced and started by the Mt. Carmel Baptist Rural Life Center, a Baptist Agriculture Mission based in Barangay Kinuskusan, Bansalan, Davao del Sur, about 20 kilometers from the capital city of my province, North Cotabato, which is Kidapawan City.

The mission, established by American Southern Baptist Pastors, introduced the Sloping Land Agriculture Technology (SALT) to marginalized farmers in Mindanao and initiated projects that would provide farmers more income from their limited land area.

They introduced the raising of goats -- both Anglo-Nubian for milk and Boers for meat -- and succeeded in raising awareness on the value of small ruminants to marginalized farmers. They also introduced hybrid hogs and sheep to farmers.

They also educated farmers in the Central Mindanao area on the importance of growing forage for the small ruminants. Taking into consideration the fact that most farmers own small landholdings, the idea of grazing the goats would be out of the question.

Experience among small landholders shows that goats start quarrels among neighbors as the stray animals would oftentimes graze on the neighbors plants. And the owners' plants as well.

This led to the introduction of penned goat raising where in a small elevated building measuring 5x20 meters, the farmer can raise as many as 20 to 30 goats.

The Baptist Mission also required prospective goat, sheep and hog raisers to undergo an educational process to learn the rudiments of the activity. For goat raisers, planting materials for rensonii, indigo ferra, flamengia, ipil-ipil, madre de cacao and madre de agua were also introduced.

The raising of goats in pens does not only prevent quarrels among neighbors but also result in better health management as goats' state of health is very difficult to monitor in the range.

It also gives the farmers added benefits -- the goat manure which contains very high organic matter which is now being used by organic fruit growers. An experiment on the effectivity of fermented goat urine as pest deterrent among fruit trees has just been completed by the Central Mindanao University and goat raiser Greg Saljay Jr. of Pigcawayan, North Cotabato and the initial results are very interesting.

The impact of the MBRLC among farming families in our region is very dramatic. Hedges of legumes for goats could now be seen in otherwise underutilized hilly areas. The Baptist Mission, now headed by a Filipino Roy Alimoane, has proven that glorifying God is mainly about seeing people living happily.

As they say: "God's greatest glory is man fully alive."

Thank you for your letter and my warmest regards.