Journalist Enjoys Being a Farmer

Multi-awarded Negrense journalist Primo Esleyer, now in his prime, has dabbled into farming and has found it rewarding. But he didn't just involve himself with backyard farming but big scale integrated organic farming in Brgy. Ma-ao, Bago City, southern Negros Occidental.

Esleyer has started rice farming in the late 1970s after he acquired a parcel of land in Brgy. Taloc, Bago City, southern Negros Occidental. Through the years, his property grew when he continued buying adjacent farms that were up for sale. This year, however, his good friend Ramon Uy of the famous RU shredder introduced him to farming the organic way. Esleyer was then brought to the Buro-buro Springs Vermifarm by Batchoy and Pamela Henares of Bacolod City, and there he was educated in vermicomposting and the production of bokasi.

At present, Esleyer keeps an 18,000-head poultry, a 500-tree mango orchard, a 40-hectare rice farm, plus animals of different kinds-cows, carabaos, goats, pigs, ducks, and the native chicken. He's like the guy in the song, "Old McDonald Had a Farm," Pinoy-style.

The different aspects of Esleyer's farm contribute to the production of his vermi-compost and bokasi fertilizer. He uses the available materials in his farm, such as the chicken dung, rice hull (carbonized), and grasses. The grasses and other plant material go through the process of vermicomposting and the castings make up 20% of his bokasi. The other 80% constitutes one half chicken dung and one half carbonized rice hull.

Esleyer uses all the fertilizer that he produces on his fruit trees, rice farm and fishpond that he doesn't have enough to sell. However, he is offering to teach the technology to anyone who wants to learn, especially the farmers around his area. In fact, Esleyer has recently organized the Irrigators' Association in Brgy. Taloc where the members are the beneficiaries of the irrigation system provided by Negros Occidental Governor Joseph Maranon. In this system, Esleyer's farm and that of neighboring plantations utilize the run off water from the National Irrigation Administration's water system. The water used to flow in the river that's located near their farms and are getting useless. With the machinery provided by the provincial government, water from the river is siphoned and piped out to the different farms. They just schedule the rotation of the water distribution. The farmers just pay for the fuel used to run the pump and the operator in charge of it. Otherwise, the use of the machine is for free.

The vermicomposting project in Brgy. Taloc is a pioneering effort by RU Foundry and Esleyer to help marginalized farmers in the inevitability of rising production costs by producing their own fertilizer. From time to time, RU Foundry lends a shredder to the association so that the people can have their plant materials processed for vermicomposting. Eventually, however, the group will have to buy their own shredder and share the costs of operation so that they can claim ownership to the equipment. This is in line with RU's thrust to teach people the right technology rather than give them dole outs.

All these years, Esleyer has been recognized in every endeavor that he has put his hands upon. He was awarded as outstanding alumnus of his high school and college, plus he was cited for his meritorious performance as dean of the college of commerce of the University of St. La Salle-Bacolod. As a journalist, he was honored several times for his contributions in this field. And in his farming, he was also awarded as Outstanding Grower for Best Harvest Recovery by San Miguel Food Corporation in 1996 for his poultry operations and as Outstanding Farmer in the province for great harvests in the rice field. And now that he has gone organic, he has noticed that he has better grain turn out, has dealt with blight, and is looking at a brighter future for his farming.

As accomplished as he is, Esleyer admits that nothing has come to him without hard work. "When I start something, I give my all into it," he says, so much so that he is reaping the fruits of his labor. He was not educated in journalism, but he turned out to be a writer who has stayed in the business for several decades now. He was not schooled in agriculture either, but he surpassed the achievements of some seasoned farmers. He is not afraid to try and learn new things and he is not alien to hard work, which are probably the reasons why he continues to reap successes in his efforts.

Aside from the key people who have helped him, Esleyer also acknowledges that he has had great help from the articles written by editor Zac Sarian in Agriculture Magazine. "I am a graduate of Sarian University. I read everything he writes," he laughs.

Despite his achievements, Esleyer does not forget that there are a lot of people who need his help in farming. And in cooperation with RU Foundry, they are cooking more ideas to benefit small-scale farmers, especially in their area.