SAN FRANCISCO, Agusan del Sur (MindaNews / 14 April) — Administration candidates in Agusan del Sur belonging to the National Unity Party (NUP), most of them unopposed and on their third terms, have made an agricultural project the main weapon of their campaign for the May 12 elections.
Dubbed Upland Sustainable Agroforestry Development (USAD), the soil test-based fertilization project championed by 2nd District Rep. Adolph Edward Plaza is touted to have increased the yield and income of farmers in the province.
In their rallies, the NUP candidates let farmers talk about how the project has improved their economic condition through better harvest. In these gatherings, Plaza said he dreams of farmers becoming “proud, empowered professionals of the land” not just land tillers.
One of those farmers is Ricoleta Añora, a rubber farmer from the mountain village of Magsaysay in Sibagat town.
After training under USAD on proper rubber-tapping techniques, she said her income increased. Her family bought a motorcycle and started raising goats. Once awarded USAD’s Best Farmer in 2018, she has become a symbol of possibility.
In Rosario town, Randy Boates saw his rice yield shoot up by 40%—from just 50–60 bags per hectare to 87. “I paid off my loans. My kids’ school needs are covered,” he said.
Fred Alvizo, a rice farmer in Barangay Maitum, Loreto town said he transformed his acidic, low-fertility peatland into a high-yield rice field producing 6.6 metric tons per hectare—more than double his previous harvest.
That translated into ₱120,000 income per hectare, up from just ₱60,000. Now, he’s added fish ponds and a piggery to his farm, and his kids no longer struggle for school allowance.
The project was based on field trials conducted under the USAD program across Loreto, Trento, Bayugan City, and the provincial capital in Patin-ay that showed palay yields soaring from 3.6 to 6–6.8 tons per hectare.
The man behind the science, Dr. Johnvie Goloran, a soil expert from Griffith University and a native son of Agusan del Sur, explained how correcting soil nutrient deficiencies through accessible local fertilizers supercharged plant growth. Farmers—once skeptical—now actively embrace the data-driven approach.
Rep. Plaza spotlighted these achievements during a recent budget hearing with Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel:
“Less cost, higher yield, and better income for farmers,” he declared. (Chris V. Panganiban/MindaNews)