Tabuk City farmer wins nat’l Gawad Saka award

CITY OF TABUK, Kalinga -- Honorio Clemencia of this city won this year’s National Gawad Saka Award as Most Outstanding Farmer of the Year under Rice-Based Integrated Farming given by the Department of Agriculture (DA).

Clemencia received P250, 000 cash incentive aside from plaques of recognition for his feat.

In his four-hectare rice farm, Clemencia practices integrated farming and is also into fish, fruits, vegetables and livestock production.      

He started farming in 1997 and only had this to support his family.

               Coming from a modest family in a far-flung community of Tabuk, Clemencia was not able to pursue college due to financial constraint. He told himself this should not happen to his children.

When DA introduced to their place the integrated farming technology that maximizes agricultural production on a relatively limited area.   Farmers learned of the agricultural innovation promoting organic farming and sloping agricultural land technology leading to multi-crop production. Clemencia saw a big opportunity with this technology.

                 Making a name now among farmers, he leads the Burayukan Pagrang-ayan Movement, Inc., which was adjudged as Best Implementer of Community-based Forest Management Project by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in 2017.

Recently, Honorio’s integrated farm was accredited as ‘Learning Center’ by the Cordillera Region Agricultural Training Institute and earned a National Certificate II for Agricultural Crop Production from the Technical Education Skills and Development Authority.

With this, some agriculture graduate students from the Kalinga State University had their immersion study at Clemencia’s farm.

As a rice-based integrated farmer, he fulfilled his dream for his children who finished college and are now employed.

Among Tabuk farmers, Clemencia who proved scarcity is never a hindrance to one’s dreams. He is a farmer to emulate.  (JDP/LL-PIA CAR, Kalinga)