In a letter dated April 26, 2023, the Palayaman project team of Bulacan Agricultural State College has been confirmed as one of the Honors Award Program (HAP) Regional Winners for the Civil Service Commission Pagasa Award Group Category. Dr. Imelda Navarro, the Project Leader of the BASC’s longest-running extension project, was commended by the CSC-Regional Office through Director Fernando Mendoza.

  Since 2007, the Palayaman project has been helping the marginalized farmers in the community in improving their farm families’ standard of living. The project also became instrumental in achieving a holistic development of the farmers’ individual personality.

Due to the success of the original Palayamanan in the Community project, it has sprouted to other community extension projects which are all anchored on the Palayamanan concept and promoting the technology of rice-based integrated and diversified farming system. These projects have become sustainable such that even beyond the original project duration, farmer-beneficiaries are still practicing the extended technology in their respective farms.

This was made possible because of the collaborative efforts through the linkages established with the Local Government Units (LGUs), State Universities and Colleges (SUCs), Government Organizations (GOs) and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Central Luzon.

The activities performed by the group were establishment and development of viable techno-demo farms, distribution of farm inputs, capability building through series of trainings, lakbay-aral, participatory technology demonstrations and farmers’ field school. The surrounding community also became aware of the technology extended to the farmers as a result of the information dissemination campaign done through the distribution of information and education communication (IEC) materials, field days, posting of activities in social media, guesting in TV programs featuring the project and paper presentations in the different conferences wherein the project won several awards of recognition. The group’s financial assistance extended to the farmers has greatly helped them in augmenting their financial needs in sustaining their farms’ operations.

Through the years, the group’s projects have helped marginalized farmers not only in Bulacan, but also in Central Luzon. It provided a steady supply of chemical pesticide-free/organic agricultural commodities to the surrounding communities; improved their knowledge, skills and attitude (KSA); transformed farmer-cooperators from technology adopters to technology sharers; transformed farmer-producers to become profitable agri-preneurs; empowered nine farmer-cooperators who became recipients of various awards in the local and national levels; increased farmers’ income; improved farm productivity, developed farmer’s sense of responsibility and accountability; and embodied the “Bayanihan Spirit” between and among the farmer-beneficiaries.