There are about 115 families living in Barangay Balite in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro. The community has a lot of Balite trees, which is why they have named it Barangay Balite. Most of the residents are indigenous people from the Mangyan Tribe, and farming is their main source of income.
Many Flipinos work in the agricultural sector. Despite the country's abundance in natural resources, Filipinos farmers continue to face the challenges of poverty. SEED Philippines aims to educate the young generation to help uplift the agricultural sector and assist our farmers on how to improve their livelihood with the right planting techniques. In addition to this, they aim to introduce younger generations to farming since the agricultural sector currently has an age limit of 40 and over. As they age, the parents do not wish their children to take over their job and be farmers like them due to the financial challenges attached to the profession. Unfortunately, there is a negative connotation attached to this industry, The SEED scholards who have graduated recently plan to guide these farmers and incorporate the modern farming techniques they learned at SEED school into their farming practices.
Many of the farmers in barangay Balite don't own land; they have to rent it in order to plant. With the help of engineer Leody Guttierez, also a member of the Rotary Club Calapan, one hectare of land was lent to them. In addition to land, they are also faced with climate-related concerns. For example, because of the intense heat they had last year, some of their crops were damaged and dried up. So, instead of being profitable, they went into deficit. As a result of the lack of equipment and financial means, they were not able to purchase the materials they should have used in order to prevent significant loss to their livelihood.
Due to the deficit, they experienced last year, they were unable to pursue their objective to attain food and financial adequacy for their families. Help them start anew and make a difference in their lives. The cost for this project is PHP 38, 330, which will mainly be used for purchasing farming equipment such as sprayers, drums, barbwire, ferttilizers, and seedlings.