Module 6 Related Project Reports on Planned Change and Rural Development in
Asia and Africa
Four (4) different projects, three (3) in Asia (2 Philippines and 1 Thailand) and
one in Africa (Dominican Republic in Congo), are presented as follows:
Project Report 1
Community Mobilization and Social Preparation for the
Utilization and Commercialization of Sweet Sorghum in
the Philippines (2008-2011)
Project Report 2
Helping a Farming Community Move from Corporate Oil
Dependency and Climate Change Adaptation to Local
Resiliency and Sustainability (2011-2012)
Project Report 3
One Tambon One Product – Planned Change as a Strategy
of Poverty Alleviation in Thailand
Project Report 4
Worth Program – Autonomy and Emancipation of Women
in the Dominican Republic of Congo Rural Areas
Objectives
At the end of the module the teacher and the student(s) are expected
1. to prepare a proposal on or a model of Planned Change in Rural Development
for a depressed community in one’s country using Modules 1 to 6 as
reference materials,
2. to improve a module by further enrichment, better synthesis, editing, and
adopting Work Ethic module format sent to the students,
3. to identify lessons learned from this module format which can be applied in
improving the course package of Planned Change in Rural Development, and
4. to prepare a proposal of Planned Change in Cooperative Development to show
that the student can apply the lessons learned in Planned Change in Rural
Development, cooperative development being an important dimension of it.
72
Project Report 1
Community Mobilization and Social Preparation for the Utilization and Commercialization
of Sweet Sorghum in the Philippines (2008-2011)
F.Talens Rivera, S.M. Roguel, A.A. de Leon, & J.R. Hipolito
Introduction
This is a Summary Report of the DA-BAR-CLSU-LGU-Cabiao Project entitled Social
Preparation and Further Capability Building for the Promotion of Sweet Sorghum Utilization and
Commercialization. The project site is a relatively small far flung barangay named Bagong Sikat
(new ray) located in Cabiao, Nueva Ecija, Philippines. The project was conducted from August
1, 2008 to May 31, 2011. Methodologies used were: descriptive survey, participatory farming
system improvement action research for rural development using community mobilization and
social preparation as major strategies.
Rationalizing project extension from January 1 to May 31, 2011 due to the La Nina
phenomenon until early November, became necessary as unexpected long dry spell delayed the
establishment of the 20 ha first sweet sorghum crop of 12 red sorghum grain farmers.
The Field Day and Micro Strategic Action Planning as part of last phase of community
mobilization and social preparation were undertaken on February 21 and March 17, 2011
respectively where Mayor Jerry Pelayo of Candaba and his son Patrick Pelayo of the Philippine
Ethanol Manufacturing Distillery and Services, Inc. (PEMDAS) were invited as guests speakers.
and proposed future partners of a vigorous sweet sorghum industry integrating small scale
farmers in commercial scale ventures of sweet sorghum biofuel and food enterprises.
Government organizations (GOs), non-government organizations (NGOs), educational
institutions, as well as individuals in various sectors of the community were mobilized as strong
support for possible Cabiao-Candaba LGU-LGU tandem to strengthen the production-processingmarketing supply chain of the promising grain.. Modest fund support for these later enriching
activities came from CLSU, LGU-Cabiao, Sanggunian Bayan, Vice Governor Jose Gay P.
Padiernos of the Provincial Government, and the Lingap Tao para sa Kabuhayan Foundation, Inc.
of which the Project Leader is President.
This Summary Report was derived from results of five (5) interrelated micro studies,
namely:
 Profiles of the Community and Farm Families
 Community Mobilization and Social Preparation for the Promotion of Sweet
Sorghum Utilization and Commercialization
 Documentation of Related Sweet Sorghum R and D Activities in Luzon, Philippines: a
State of the Art Summary
 Developing Sweet Sorghum Village Multi-Product Enterprises for Improved Quality of
Family Life
 Sweet Sorghum Flour Native Cakes and Delicacies using Sweet SorghumWheat-Flour-Herbs Mixture Baked Products
 Establishing a Field Training Ecofarming School for Leaders, Field Workers and
Farm Families
 First draft of the Training Manual, with Suggested Curriculum, Learning and
Living Modules for Continuing Social Preparation and Further Capability
Building for a Proposed LGU Project One Town One Product (OTOP) of
Cabiao, Nueva Ecija, a prevailing sorghum grain country of Central Luzon since
73
the 70”s using sorghum grain as feed for animals with farmers shifting to
planting sweet sorghum beginning 2012.
Accomplishments
Micro Study 1 Profiles of Community and Farm Families
Putting people and community/family first, derived from Schumacher ‘small is
beautiful’ the initial start of the project consisted of characterizing project site Bagong
Sikat, Cabiao,in terms of physical, biophysical and economically beneficial resources
 characterizing farm families, consisting of a random sample of farmers, women
and out-of-school youths (OSY); in terms of socio-economics, demographic,
farming experience, farm size, tenure status, farming system and resources used,
employment, income, sources of income of family members, poverty situation
and social needs, farm resources, major problems met, loan utilization, trainings,
organizational needs, and awareness of sweet sorghum as a potential crop in the
area
Participatory development communication and community/family based action
research  Bagong Sikat, is a farming community of 213 households averaging 5-6
members per family mostly farmers and landless as labor force/major
stakeholders comprising 1,177 people (2005). Farmland in the area composed of
2,897 has. a large portion of which is cultivated by farmers mostly living outside
the barangay. Farming system used is a rice-sorghum grain (other grains and
vegetables) with a few animals (native chickens, ducks and goat)
 potential of Cabiao composing of 23 barangays for a sweet sorghum or mix
white (sweet sorghum) and red (sorghum grain mainly for feed) sorghum is
around 7,000 has.
Micro Study 2
 Community Mobilization and Social Preparation for the Promotion of Sweet
Sorghum Utilization and Commercialization
 after more than two years of development activities, communities and support
groups partly mobilized as evidenced by their participation in various planned
activities in which they participated, namely – participatory rapid rural appraisal
using various techniques as key informants focused interviews and discussions
why plant sorghum grain or sweet sorghum, advantages and disadvantages,
several workshops-writeshops on usual planning, implementing, evaluating
phases and action planning sessions, attending general assemblies and film
showing, special meetings, field days during 2 sweet sorghum harvest festivals,
training on sweet sorghum production and product development, work ethic,
honing human essence and core values.
 at the beginning of the third year, planting of sweet sorghum after rice for the
first time in November to December 2011 by 12 sorghum grain farmers, with the
initiative of a father-daughter farmer entrepreneur tandem, providing seeds,
micro financing, facilitating good land preparation assistance by tractor owner,
and market support to co-farmers
74
Community mobilization starts with community immersion, with project staff
establishing a helping relationship without developing client dependence
 Project Staff, helped farmers procure sweet sorghum variety SPV422 from
MMSU; provided brochures on sweet sorghum package of technology and other
information, education and communication (IEC) resource materials upon which
they can start self-study
 The DA-BAR-CLSU-LGU-Cabiao partnership for the promotion of sweet
sorghum utilization and commercialization was started by the late Mayor
Abundia “Biding” Lumbang Garcia (2008-2011) has been realized with Mayor
Gloria “Baby” Crespo Congco (2010-2013) supporting the project of the
previous executive by activating the Municipal Agricultural Development
Committee (MADC); headed by Councilor Julito Wycoco who Chairs the group,
assisted by Engr. Jose Hipolito, Municipal Planning and Development Officer
(MPDO), Mr. Ruperto Joson, Municipal Agriculturist and Mr. Emilio Galang, an
experienced community development officer now in Charge of the Office of the
Senior Citizen Association (OSCA)
 purchase and turn over of two Stationary Gas Ovens by the DA-BAR sweet
sorghum funded project to LGU-Cabiao, one to be used at the Lingap Tao
Kalikasan EcoFarming School in Bagong Sikat, and the other, by the OSCA,
which will help pilot the Bread with Herb for Life Project (small scale bakery
using sweet sorghum and wheat flour; it is the plan to replicate this module
project in other interested barangays organized by clusters, and once
operational, to form these into a Bakers Association Cooperative, a component of
organizational development for planned change in agricultural and rural
development
 multi-sectoral GO-NGO collaboration and cooperation using participatory
development communication
 assurance of the farmer-entrepreneur (father-daughter Libunao Family) tandem
for a sure market for white and red grain sorghum and continuing planting of
sweet sorghum, this is benevolent farmer-entrepreneurship or social
entrepreneurship at its highest
 decision to form the LGU-LGU Partnership of a Cabiao-Candaba tandem
agreed upon by two LGU executives during the First Farmer Sweet Sorghum
Field Day on February 17, so-called Pagdiriwang ng Masaganang Ani ng Sweet
Sorghum ng mga Magsasaka sa Kabyaw, celebration of the first farmer sweet
sorghum harvest in Cabiao, where this town which is recognized as the sorghum
grain country since the early 70”s becomes the sweet sorghum plantation of
farm family entrepreneurs developing village livelihood systems while Candaba
LGU provides appropriate distillery and other equipment, as well as market and
investors for high yielding sweet sorghum seed-capital assistance
 for the LGU-Cabiao-Candaba-LGU partnership to succeed, it will be
backstopped by four state higher education institutions (HEIS) intra and inter
institutional collaboration and cooperation both emanating from CLSU, as
well as a private college, CRT
 Central Luzon State University (CLSU), as overall coordinator of sweet
sorghum R and D activities in the area
 Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology (NEUST), leading in
using sweet sorghum baggasse as fuel for home cooking, making them
75



into charcoal briquettes and utilization of its new invention a stainless
stove where the briquettes will be used; also as fabricator of small
machines needed to spur the village sweet sorghum industries
Pampanga Agricultural College (PAC), leading in sweet sorghum
product development for nutritious viands, delicacies and other viable
products, with appropriate relevant studies, showcasing exhibits and
demonstrations
College for Research and Technology (CRT), for leading in online
education (idea already tested in 2010 for a graduate student from Africa,
taking up Planned Change in Rural Development, a course of a Ph D
program in Rural Development at the Open University where the project
leader is teaching an online course RD 806 Planned Change in Rural
Development), and development, packaging and production of IEC
resource materials (in print and CD)
Inter-institutional collaboration and cooperation. Over at CLSU, interinstitutional collaborative and cooperative support activities are:
 College of Home Science and Industry (CHSI) – research,
extension and training scheme was developed by an
interdisciplinary and multi sectoral team of the college, headed
by Alma de Leon, a Food Scientist with the DA-BAR Project
Leader as consultant, indicated for replication in other HEIs
 College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) – sweet sorghum festival
street dancing created and performed by the CAS Cultural Group
students under advisers, Ms. Aubrey Rillon and Ms. Precy
Paringit during the Community Mobilization for Action Planning
NE-Day activity in Bagong Sikat Lingap Tao Kalikasan
EcoFarming School on March 21, 2011; the first completed
undergraduate thesis is about the use of sweet sorghum grain as
culture media in mushroom production was assisted by the DABAR-CLSU-LGU Cabiao Project
 Research Office backed up by the Research, Extension and
Training (RET) administration initiated the first sweet sorghum
half ha demo farm in the research area for supporting small scale
village entrepreneurship, with Carlos Abon as project leader
 Five NGOs which will assist the LGU-Cabiao continuing projects with regards to
respective concerns and expertise are  Lingap Tao sa Kabuhayan Foundation, Inc., will support improvement of
village sweet sorghum multi-product development and women-run local
banking system with the help of Happy Earth, Inc.; will facilitate
negotiations for needed facilities, equipment and machinery acquisition
(a contest for the design of a bamboo-steel tri-bike kitchen-store of herbsweet sorghum flour street foods for public schools is under way)
 Senior Citizen Association, for cooperative development and
organizational management for operating barangay bakery to produce
Bread for Life products
 Happy Earth, Inc. for acquiring sweet sorghum flour mill developed by
the Philippine Rice Research; for custom hiring; each cluster barangay
may also buy its own sweet sorghum flour miller in the future
76


Karen Bakery, a local bakery shared its pan de sal and other saleable
products expertise in developing sweet sorghum products for village
enterprises, through training, exhibits and demos; and
Nazareth House through Rev. Deacon Bugay 5 ha farm donating two
buildings as main face to face school facility and the farm itself together
with the whole community as social laboratory for the Lingap Tao
Kalikasan Ecofarming School established by the Project, where a
blessing and thanksgiving mass on September 17, 2010, was held,
attended by stakeholders from different sectors.
 As mentioned earlier, two major community mobilization and related social
preparation activities were held in 2011. One was a Field Day held on February
21 as a rice-sorghum grain farmers celebration of harvesting sweet sorghum for
the first time. This was followed by Community Mobilization for Action
Planning (see page 13 for the suggested micro action planning format) activity
held on March 17, 2011. Both are major activities of Study 2
 Individual Private Multi-sectoral Participation
 Sergio Ortiz Luis, President Philippine Chamber of Commerce and
Industry, Philippine Exporters Confederation, Inc., and Honorary
Chairman, Confederation of Employees Association of the Philippines, a
Kabyaweno, representative of Class A population, supporting sweet
sorghum bread with herb powder additive (like moringga, pandan,
saluyot); believes that sweet sorghum flour has big potential even
globally, as recently, certain wheat flour products are found to cause
allergenic problems; considers the Kabyaweño pan de sal made of 20
percent sweet sorghum and 8o percent wheat flour as palatable and
acceptable, except for its sweetness and color as he prefers white bread,
should be supported as a staple nutritious food for Filipinos, considers
bakery for cluster barangays/even per barangay as having potential for
supplementing pan de sal made of pure wheat flour
 Reynaldo Arimbuyutan, President of the College of Research and
Teaching, President of Nueva Ecija, is supporting the project by giving
access to his school as an extension-training facility for women in street
food cookery using sweet sorghum and herbs
 Engr. Fiorello Galindo, a retired top Petron Official, informal Consultant
of the DA-BAR funded project, believes that sweet sorghum is one crop
that can help boost food security and much needed foreign exchange on
the way to green bio-fuel production; he recommended sweet sorghum
grains as supplementary staple food to rice, use in the production of
ersatz coffee, waste material for conversion to charcoal/stalks as fuel for
cooking stoves, also for production of compost/organic fertilizer;
recommended a strong market support to sweet sorghum village multi
enterprise endeavor
 Perrine, a Belgian baking aficionado working with Cabiao Biotech
Bukid, meaning farm, (CABIOKID), a 7 ha. Permaculture Project
established 7 years ago in Cabiao by another Belgian who married a
Kabyaweña, believes that she can produce cakes and pastries using 30%
sweet sorghum flour; she actively participated in various major activities
of the Project
77



Penelope Velasco Reyes, a volunteer of the project, President of the
Global Ecovillage Network for Oceania and Asia (GENOA) whose
office is based in Cabiao, has tried using sweet sorghum flour for pasta
making, believes that it has potential for being a component of homemade livelihood prepared food of farm families who love noodles; she
also demonstrated how to bake an apple pie cake using sweet sorghum
flour which was successful
Ophelia Relucio, another Kabyaweña, is proposing to the project leader
her unproductive 10 ha farm to be planted by sweet sorghum and herbs
next year
Ten (10) housewives from CLSU, and 10 different individuals in the
neighborhood of the project leader in Cabiao tried cooking sweet
sorghum grains using a common sauted mungbean recipe with herbs like
moringa, squash flowers, or himbabao, found it suitable to their taste;
Lea, a co-worker at the Institute of Graduate Studies observes that the
grains are suitable for gourmet food.
Micro Study 3
 Documentation of Related Sweet Sorghum R and D Activities in Luzon, Philippines: a
State of the Art Summary, documentation and evaluation of both borrowed and
indigenous knowledge related to both sorghum grain and sweet sorghum cookery
 HEIs in Luzon who are into sweet sorghum product development R and D for
utilization and commercialization are  BIARC in Camarines Norte - “puto pao”, cookies, pasta, peanut brittle,
polvoron, macaroons, cupcakes, pop sweet sorghum, butter cookies,
mamon, catsup, pie, chocolate cup cakes and toasted coffee grains
 MMSU, Ilocos Norte is now a sweet sorghum country especially
engaged in varietal trials and seed production due to the efforts of Dr.
Heraldo L. Layaoen, MMSU Vice President for Planning,
Development and External Linkages, also, National Sweet Sorghum R
and D Coordinator contributing breakthroughs in high yielding seed
varieties development and propagation, also developed here are sweet
sorghum derived products - jaggery, syrup, “basi” wine and vinegar, pop
sweet sorghum, flour, polvoron, brownies, cookies, beverage and
published a book about them
 Pampanga Agricultural College (PAC), specialized in sweet sorghum
processing as food, published a book of its varied products - native cake,
suman, espasol, okoy, cookies, burger, porridge, fresh spring rolls with
sorghum, sorghum veggie in oyster sauce, shanghai sorghum and sweet
sorghum crunchies), entitled Sweet Sorghum Food Products: A
Compendium
 documentation of equipment and machineries useful for village sweet sorghum
processing are also shown in Study 3. It is encouraging to note that there are
many available equipment and machinery that are suitable for village sweet
sorghum processing.
It should be mentioned that the Philippine Council for Agriculture and Resources
Research (PCARR) had published a Philippine Recommends for Sorghum 1975, which includes
the topics as follows: Cost and Return Analysis of Producing Sorghum, Marketing, Nutritive
78
Value and Utilization of Sorghum and Sorghum By-Products, Production Management, Post
Harvest and Ratooning.
Poster 1 is a summary presentation of different developed sweet sorghum products
existing/already developed.
79
Micro Study 4
 Developing Sweet Sorghum Village Multi-Product Enterprises for Community
Sustainability - the project accomplishments in this regard are presented below  The first year of the project was concentrated on community immersion,
organizing, general assembly meetings, key informants focused interviews,
profiling major stakeholders, workshop-writeshop on problem and solution
identification, simple case studies for knowing more in depth what make the
community and farm families tick the way they do, and some film showing.
 As no farmer signified interest in incorporation of sweet sorghum in existing
farming system, during the second year of the Project, the Research Office put up
a half ha sweet sorghum demo in the research area on January 17, 2009 which
farmers from Cabiao, a few from San Jose, Tarlac and Palayan City visited and
farmers from Cabiao; they also attended the first Field Day of Sweet Sorghum
Celebration on May 14, 2009; were able to observe harvesting and juicing of
stalks demonstration. The crop partly destroyed by La Nina yielded only around
633 kgs. good grains used largely for producing sweet sorghum flour and cooked
as viands; and some of it in student and faculty research entitled Growth
Performance of Lentinus sajor caju on Sorghum Based Formulation as
mushroom culture media. The rest (around 1000 kgs.) which were spoiled; most
of the stalks were used as animal feed. Varied uses of the harvested sweet
sorghum are as follows:
 Grains – made into sweet sorghum flour – focus was on bakery – breads,
cakes and pastries and cookies with herbs for health, special Afro-Asian
sweet soup or porridge with ground toasted fish and peanuts and
moringga leaves as nutritious food for entire family (children, parents,
sick members and senior citizens); family viands – cooked as mungbean
or “turo” indigenous bean, mixed with choice native herbs and organic
vegetables, like squash flowers and young leaves, moringga, alugbati
“labuyo” and ampalaya leaves, etc.; and native delicacies - “maja”,
espasol, polvoron, “puto pao”, etc.; mushroom culture media (Reyes and
Kalaw, 2010); grains in stalks – art and decor
 Stalks and leaves – sapped stalks for foot spa tested and suggested by
Gutierrez (2009) as possible useful product; cooking fuel used in
Worldstove (see http://www.worldstove.com) courtesy of John
Vermuellen, Happy Earth Exhibit and Demo (2011); stainless stove for
cooking using charcoal briquettes made of sweet sorghum stalks and
other waste materials (NEUST, 2011); leaves used in flower making
with multicolor sinamay, for art décor (Vera Cruz, 2009)
 whole plant as giant dry flower arrangement for schools, hotels,
churches, hospitals, etc. (Rivera, 2010)
Micro Study 5
 Establishing the Lingap Tao Kalikasan EcoFarming School being established in
Bagong Sikat for Training Leaders, Field Workers and Farm Families (Study 5).
Accomplishments in this regard are:
 Production of IEC Materials (in print and CD)
 Philosophy of Earth Care published by DA-BAR (Rivera et. al, 2008)
 Sweet Sorghum Package of Technology Brochures
80

Training Manual with Suggested Curriculum and Modules (English and
Tagalog version)
 Sweet Sorghum-Herb for Life Baked Products and Tempura Recipes,
tested by the project staff, Bagong Sikat Landless Households, Gen.
Natividad South Neighborhood, Cabiao National High School faculty
and students, Gawad Kalinga Women Organization, Nazareth House
Orphanage,
 Two posters, the first one - Sweet Sorghum, a Smart and Wonder Crop:
5F’s Food, Feed, Fodder, Fuel, Fertilizer, etc. summarizes what useful
products so far have been developed in Luzon Philippines
 Sweet Sorghum-Herb: A Web of Life (ingredient of a total integrated
farming system for rural transformation), what other creative ideas are
still possible to develop out of the whole sweet sorghum plant that are
beneficial to mankind.
 Finished and tested some parts of the first draft of Training Manual (English and
Tagalog Versions) with module content partly used only due to lack of funds
 Tested, revised and used several modules in training farmers, women and out-ofschool youths
Summary of Needs and Recommendations
 Needs
 enough producer-supplier of high yielding sweet sorghum seeds in the area at
fair price
 availability of funding institutions formal and non-formal providing loans at
rational interest rates
 local fabrication for making available village type machines and equipment for
sweet sorghum processing
 juicer
 oven
 flour mill
 decorticator
 herb air dryer and pulverizer; herb powder to be used in Bread for Life
project
 designer, fabricator and operator of village level alcohol distillery preparatory to bioethanol production; a Kabyaweño, German educated engineer, Antonio R. Carpio has
designed a village alcohol distillery submitted by the DA-BAR-CLSU-LGU-Cabiao
Project for funding to Senator Juan Miguel “Migz” F. Zubiri, which needs follow-up by
LGU; funding for the improvement of the LTK EcoFarming School was also proposed
and submitted to Senator Juan Ponce Enrile
 Need to conduct studies on the following
 ROI of different products
 Sweet sorghum supply chain
 Pricing
 Nutritional analyses of sweet sorghum products
 Packaging
 Merchandizing
 Well trained module writers and trainors
 Sufficient budget
81
Poster 2. Lingap Tao Kalikasan EcoFarming School (for training Leaders, Field Workers and
Farm Families)
Recommendations
 to improve the Micro Strategic Plan of the Cabiao-Candaba LGU-LGU Partnership
started by the LGU-Cabiao MADC where strategic thinking based on critical success
factors when finalizing a blueprint of action for the next steps to be undertaken is
recommended (see page 84):
 moving out of one’s comfort zone - today’s paradigms - and use new and wider
boundaries for thinking, planning, doing, evaluating, and continuous
improvement
 differentiating between ends (what) and means (how)
 using all three levels of planning and results (Mega/Outcomes; Macro/Outputs;
Micro/Products)
 preparing all objectives – including the Ideal Vision and mission – to include
precise statements of both where you are headed, as well as the criteria for
measuring when you have arrived. Develop “Smarter” Objectives
 using Ideal Vision (what kind of world, in measurable performance terms, we
want for tomorrow’s child) as the underlying basis for planning and continuous
improvement
 defining “need” as a gap in results (not as insufficient levels of resources, means,
or methods)
82
 training of the various stakeholders of the One-Town-One-Project (OTOP)
 further development of socio-economic models for various combination of possible
multi-product enterprises, as much as possible integrating small scale farmers in big
sweet sorghum plantation or business for social entrepreneurship operations
One way to encourage strategic thinking is to utilize Fig. 1. A village-based biotech
enterprise model for a food-secured healthy family (Reyes, Rivera, Talens, Belum & Dar, 2011).
A broader paradigm with a brief explanation is found below as a useful way of doing
critical thinking, encompassing all mega outcomes, micro outputs, and micro products.
83
Planned Change in Cropping Component from Sorghum Grain
to Sweet Sorghum for Rural Development
Early on the Department of Education (DEPED) has been chosen as one of the
organizational catalysts for community mobilization and social preparation for the promotion of
sweet sorghum utilization and commercialization. The Cabiao National High School (CNHS) was
chosen as one of the venues for introducing the sweet sorghum products developed by the project.
In fact one of the Stationary Gas Ovens which were turned over to the LGU-Cabiao is earmarked
as a joint venture of the Lingap Tao Kalikasan Ecofarming School and the Home Economics
Department of the CNHS. The high school population of more than 8,000 is a significant one and
is eyed by the DA-BAR-CLSU-LGU-Cabiao Project Team as a great multiplier for strengthening
community participation in the project.
The project is also a participatory communication development strategy conducted to
generate expected outcomes of community mobilization and social preparation for the promotion
of sweet sorghum utilization and commercialization and we need quick multiplier effects of
young students who can become effective communicators and product users. These two activities
are twin undertakings useless without the other.
Organized events targeting active vulnerable varied audiences or stakeholders as in Herb
for Health and Life tempura cookery using sweet sorghum flour, is also, like the Field Days or
Festivals, Celebrations of Important Events, pictorials of which are herein lined up in these
study have wakened most participants to the possibilities of sweet sorghum for multi-product
village enterprises including street foods for active hungry teen-agers, or even future commercial
scale food business which were all unknown to them before.
The knowledge of new and old information complementing present related activities
have been enriched by results of intensive documentation of sweet sorghum product
development, using different parts of the crop, and farm households/community equipment and
machinery inventories important in preparing products as of old. Going further in the social
preparation after training in micro strategic or action planning, community mobilization is thus
amplified for promoting crop utilization and commercialization.
Both community mobilization and social preparation for the promotion of sweet
sorghum utilization and commercialization were used.
Why Was Community Mobilization Necessary?
 identify needs and promote community interests
 promote good leadership and democratic decision making
 identify specific groups for undertaking specific problems
 identify all the available resources in the community
 plan the best use of available resources
 help the community develop itself from inside out, by identifying and utilizing individual/
group skills/assets early on.
What Is Community Mobilization?
 process of building enthusiasm and commitment within a community or group of
stakeholders to establish a formal working relationship in order to work together in order to
accomplish a common goal (http://www.compass-malawi.com/cglossary.htm)
 process whereby a group of people have transcended their differences to meet on equal terms
in order to facilitate a participatory decision-making process
(http://www.umanitoba.ca/institutes/disaster_research/brazil/report3.html)
84
 both an initial and ongoing process central to any community and social change effort that
seeks to build support and participation of individuals, groups, and institutions to work
towards a common goal or vision (http://www.colostate.edu/Orgs/IISD/courses/
Mobilization.html)
What Is Community Organizing
 process where people who live in proximity to each other come together into an organization
that acts in their shared self-interest
 core goal of community organizing is to generate durable power for an organization
representing the community, allowing it to influence key decision-makers on a range of
issues over time (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_organizing)
What Did the Project Team Facilitators Do? Helped in:
 establishing a working relationship among themselves, with other people from whom they
seek assistance, with other community facilitators, field workers who provide services, and
others
 clarifying roles of various groups of participants and stakeholders
 characterizing farm households and their community (see Study 1)
 identifying problems and suggested solutions, as well as identifying training needs for
further capability building
 clarifying and determining philosophy and vision statements of different stakeholders of the
community to provide direction to what they plan to do
What Were the Various Strategies of Community Mobilization and Social Preparation
Used?
In this project, various strategies and techniques were used  invited the local development officials and different identified rural organizations and
institutions representatives to a general/special meeting
 collected, prepared and distributed information resource materials about project activities and
results
 organized events for people to participate (field days celebration of harvest festivals, with
exhibits of invited institutions/organizations to showcase their accomplishments, help learn
new ways of doing things, especially helping groups participate in self-development
 organized field visits to sweet sorghum demo farms and institutions with sweet sorghum
projects
 responded to villagers who wanted help or allowed people to come to the Field Office
established at the Bugay Farm
The Project Team/staff in planning and implementing this project, have sought the help
and active participation of the Bagong Sikat Barangay Council and its community, as well as the
various sectors of LGU-Cabiao, most especially the agricultural sector in terms of the following  active involvement and participation of rural organizations of farm families, and other
stakeholders as active participants of the project in identifying what problems to address,
what services are required for them to advance, who is responsible for what, and when –
timeline, and why
 the project consisting more of development than research, although the plan was prepared a
priori by the Team headed by CLSU, presentation of main components were taken up in
85
general assemblies involving major stakeholders – farmers, landless workers, women,
extension workers, project staff, institutional workers, non-government organizations.
 first to be mobilized for this project were high achieving well-known educated leaders who
were considered capable of assisting in project implementation
 sharing responsibility in the delineation of roles and performance of functions of all
stakeholders in collaborative and cooperative needs assessment, data collection, analysis and
use as bases for project planning, implementation, and evaluation
Issues Kept in Mind When Doing Community Work
 willingness to truly “listen” – which applies to everyone with the town people
(academics, community, etc)
 willingness to share power and work requirements – financial issues and work ethic
 trust is earned and it takes time
 slow but sure process
What Were the Steps of Community Mobilization Process?
 define the community – its assets, building the community from the inside out
 complete a community profile
 inform other groups and the community about this DA-BAR-CLSU-LGU-Cabiao
project
 obtain the commitment of the community
 organize the community work groups
 organize an advisory committee
 conduct community assemblies, focused group discussions, experts interviews,
meetings, other organized events – sweet sorghum field days, harvest festival
celebrations.
 prepare for collecting data
(ref.
www.proyectoideas.jsi.com/.../Section%20IV%20Unit%205%20Mobilizing%20the%20Com
munity...)
What Are Some Successful Community Organizing Strategies
 choosing issues to organize around understanding the difference between problems
and issues
 engaging leaders and the larger community in the campaign planning process
achieving and maintaining buy-in from community based organization leaders and
staff
 developing a campaign
 understanding elements of a campaign: assessing goals, resources needed,
allies/opponents, decision-makers, tactics
 defining roles of the organizer
 action steps: developing a campaign within your organization
(http://www.melkinginstitute.org/2010/02/developing-successful-cdc-organizing-strategiesand-campaignes/)
 using sweet sorghum-herb cookery as a strategy for community mobilization which
is effective for simultaneously addressing food and health problems while waiting
86
for sweet sorghum village multi-enterprise to grow well and be used for village
enterprises development and operation to give additional income and important
source of wellness; discussed with Mr. Andy Parducho, Manager of Pascual
Pharmaceuticals, Incorporated to test sweet sorghum juice as vitality drink and/or
for pharmaceutical uses
What Is Social Preparation?
Social preparation refers to a
 complement of activities undertaken to ensure smooth implementation and sustainability of
development programs and projects affecting the poor
(http://www.pcup.gov.ph/html/programs/socialprep1.html)
 pre-investment phase designed to strengthen the absorptive capacity of vulnerable groups
who may be marginal to mainstream development activities
(http://www.adb.org/documents/handbooks/resettlement/key_concepts05.asp)
Phases of Social Preparation Undertaken
 Preparatory Phase
The key activities during this phase were:



initial Project-Community/Farm-Family contact
identification/formation of village level development groups
data gathering and analysis on identified problems
 Planning-with-the Community Phase
The key activities during this phase were:



arranging for information campaigns around local issues,
involving active groups such as the school, church, associations,
rural organizations
the involvement of community representatives in planning project
activities;
preparing and using monitoring and evaluating project and
reporting arrangements.
(http://www.utexas.edu/academic/dii
a/assessment/iar/images/cycleBig.gif)
Specialized training inputs required for this phase:



community skills: interpersonal, group leadership, small scale media
organizational skills: “ How to” find what problems exist
management skills: inventory of local and external resources that could be used
 Implementation Phase
The key activities during this phase were:

initiating the practicing operation and maintenance of the programs;
87

formal turning over of facilities to the community, mainly two Stationary Gas Ovens,
bringing the monitoring system into full operation and modifying this as necessary
 Monitoring and Assessment Phase
The key activities during this phase were:








operating the regular reporting system
responding to problems as they emerged
beginning to make judgments periodically on the effectiveness of the program
being alert to and exploring the possibilities of spin-off projects as benefits of the
program become manifest (sweet sorghum flour utilization, grain utilization for food,
incorporation of nutritious herbs like moringa to baked products, or grain recipes
assessing the improvement in the capability of the community and local organization and
matching this to possible future commitment
considering the experience of this program in terms of the direction and content of the
next cycle of planning for community-based development
Important factors in designing the Monitoring and Evaluation (M & E) systems are:
identify specifically what information is crucial for whom;
(http://www.povertycafe.org/pcweb/archives/BSPP.htm)
Activity Component





information dissemination
consultation and conflict management
community and household survey
inter-agency/organizational linkages
capability building
(http://www.pcup.gov.ph/html/programs/steps.html)
Steps in the Conduct of Social Preparation
Activities partly undertaken not necessarily in the following order were 











identification of project site
information dissemination (to families, LGU and cooperating agencies/stakeholders)
coordination with LGU at the municipal, barangay and purok (district ) level
profiling - household and community consultation
developing community cohesion and undertaking conflict resolution
inter-agency meetings
preparation and submission of reports/recommendations
coordination with basic service providers
resource generation
value re-orientation
monitoring, process documentation
capability building program
(http://www.pcup.gov.ph/html/programs/steps.html)
In this study, social preparation has been expanded from the usual preliminary
preparation, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation procedures as can be noticed in
the different steps enumerated above. Organized events in pictures likewise have been added.
88
During the course of community mobilization and social preparation, it was observed that
providing food to participants was an effective way of gathering farm families to meetings,
training activities and focused group discussions. Since herbs could easily be gathered in the
community and because of the high cost of food, herb cookery was incorporated in the sweet
sorghum demos and the different assemblies, consultations and dialogues.
Last October 2011, after more than two years implementation of this project, 15 out
of more than 200 (around 13.3%) who have been planting sorghum grain in Cabiao for almost 3
decades ventured on planting sweet sorghum in Bagong Sikat. This was spearheaded by a fatherdaughter farmer entrepreneur tandem, Juanito Libunao and Teresita Libunao, who financed the
venture. Main reasons given by the family for this bold step were:
 availability of a sure market
 availability of good seeds through the project procured from the Mariano Marcos State
University (MMSU)
 perception of the farmers that the sweet sorghum production technology is quite similar to
that of the sorghum grain technology which they have mastered
 well-informed Libunao family who believe in the great potential of sweet sorghum as a
“smart and wonder crop” of many uses which both learned through their contacts with the
DA-BAR-CLSU-LGU Project staff and daughter Teresita’s own internet search
 possible provision for PDIC crop insurance
Community mobilization and social preparation may be considered a work in Progress.
In fact it includes many successful organized activities . One day in October, 2010, the Libunao
family called up the Project Leader to help them procure sweet sorghum seeds for 20 has in
Bagong Sikat. Php16, 000 worth of seeds paid by them for 15 farmers was ordered from MMSU
which our DA-BAR-CLSU-LGU-Cabiao staff hauled from Batac, Ilocos Norte to the project site
freely without delay. These were planted by 15 farmers in late November and early December
2010, and harvested from February 21 to April 12, 2011. The ratooning harvest data are not
included in this report as they were not yet harvested when this report was written.
0.5 ha sweet sorghum ratoon crop of Alejo Santos with
his 2 children, Tess Libunao, Farmer Entrepreneur (left)
and F. Talens Rivera, Project Leader (right), to be
harvested in July 2011
It was observed by Mr. Libunao that no one
applied insecticide although there were corn borer insects
that were mentioned casually that attacked their plants. As
the project had no more funds as of December 31, 2010,
little actual monitoring and evaluation activities were
done for this crop. The Libunao Family served as eyes and ears, heart and soul of the remaining 5
months of the project with the Project Leader visiting them and some farmers regularly.
The data presented in Table 1 were secured from the farmers by the Municipal
Agriculturist and his staff, and verified by the Project Leader. Juanito Libunao and daughter
Teresita financed and marketed the white grains of these farmers. Only a part of the stalks for
fresh juice were used for demonstration purposes, Most of the baggasse were fed to various
animals by the farmers – carabao, cattle, goat, wild pigs, swine and sheep. A farmer was able to
sell his half ha ratoon crop for Php5000 to a farmer entrepreneur. It will be harvested in July
2011.
Organizing themselves into a Sweet Sorghum Farmer Association of 15 members, the set
of officers of the pioneer association is composed of: Juanito Libunao, President; Joseph Bugay,
89
Vice President; Manuel Vinuya, Secretary; and Teresita Libunao, Treasurer. The list of the
remaining 11 members can be found in Table 1 (see next page).
Mang Ito is ordering again sweet sorghum seeds, his preference being SPV 422, for 40
farmers. More of his co-farmers have come forward to signify intention to plant the crop as they
are also interested in the multiproducts it generated, besides selling the grain, which they actually
saw, like juice from its stalks (for jaggery, molasses-like product) for vinegar, wine and alcohol,
sorghum flour for bread, cakes and pasta, also noodles, , and various viands, and lately, eating
the grains itself like mungbean.
90
Table 1. Sweet sorghum production expenses, yield, and net income without rationing data (as of March 31, 2011.)
Name of
Area
Yield
Seeds
Tractor
Planting Fertilizer
Harvesting
Threshing
Total
farmer
planted
(cvs)
(Php)
(Php)
(Php)
(Php)
10% of yield
6% of yield
expenses
(has)
(Php)
(Php)
1. J Bugay
1.0
20
880
6000
1500
3300
1400
840
13920
2. A Campos
0.6
20
1408
9600
2400
1400
840
15648
3. M Cariaga
0.4
15
352
2400
600
1050
630
5032
4. F Francisco
0.5
20
440
3000
750
1400
840
6430
5. J Francisco
1.7
130
1496
10200
2550
3300
9100
5460
32106
6. P Francisco
1.0
40
880
6000
1500
2800
1680
12860
7. J Libunao
2.0
120
1760
12000
3000
8400
5040
30200
8. T Libunao
3.0
180
2640
18000
4000
12600
7560
44800
9. H Maranan
0.8
60
704
4800
1200
4200
2520
13424
10. M Pantojo
1.3
70
1144
7800
1950
4900
2940
18734
11. R Pantojo
3.0
125
2640
18000
4000
8750
5250
38640
12. A Santos
0.5
40
440
3000
750
2800
1680
8670
13. J Santos
0.4
30
352
2400
600
2100
1260
6712
14. S Viloria
15. M Vinuya
Total
Net
Income
80
(1648)
5468
7570
58894
15140
53800
81200
28576
30266
48860
19330
14288
1.2
1.0
70
40
1056
880
7200
6000
1800
1500
2200
3300
4900
2800
2940
1680
20096
16160
28904
11840
18.4
980
17072
116400
28100
12100
68600
41160
283432
402568
As shown in Table 1, average rate of sweet sorghum production was around 53.26 cavans per ha with Php21, 879 average income per ha.
with Php17,000 average farm expenses for land preparation(tractor), planting, fertilizing, harvesting and threshing. Each household had an average
farm size of 1.23 has. with an average income of Php26,911. Price of sweet sorghum per kilo was Php14.00.
As to what will make these farmers continue to plant sweet sorghum, only the dynamics of its market can tell, or unless the government has
a policy and a program for moving from corporate oil dependency and climate change adaptation to local community resiliency and sustainability.
91
91
Report of the Municipal Agricultural Development Committee
LGU-Cabiao
Proposed Micro Strategic Action Plan
Sweet Sorghum Crop Utilization and Commercialization for Rural Transformation
Introduction
The various participants of the Programme Community Mobilization for Action
Planning, from speakers to participants and organizers - are expected to contribute to
well-thought out philosophy, vision, mission, goals, objectives and core values statements
for a proposed micro strategic action plan on sweet sorghum crop utilization and
commercialization for rural transformation which the LGU group can learn lessons from.
This initial output is not the best model, but it is presented to give an idea how an
action plan shapes up. The content herein presented is intended to be a sort of a teaser to
start all of us into thinking, and for those who believe that sweet sorghum crop utilization
and commercialization can contribute to rural transformation, this simple document is a
medium that can help ease up our job in the initiation of what it looks like. This is not a
good way of doing it, but we just wish we are thinking along the same line.
If the activity on Thursday can lead us even just to agreements at least on six
crucial statements – philosophy, vision, mission, goals, objectives, and core values, for
further comments/suggestions of other Officials in respective offices or areas in the field,
then identification and statements of program goals, programs, components, strategies,
activities, etc. may/can follow.
So for our invited guests who will give their respective statements in the form of a
message, may we request statements of philosophy, vision, mission goals, objectives, and
core values, we believe we can clarify and derive full benefits from to make our activities
a lively as well as most enduring, and valuable one.
PHILOSOPHY
. . . less for self, more for others, enough for all, everyone in the service of
Mother Earth, God and country.
VISION
. . . sustainable farming communities attaining food, feed, fertilizer, fuel
(biofuel) security, with more farm families
enjoying better quality of life
92
MISSION
. . . social preparation and further capability building for human-earth
connectivity and rural transformation
OBJECTIVES
 to develop and agree on objectives based on well-thought out common
philosophy, vision, mission, goals, and core value statements for the planned
endeavor
 to form the Cabiao-Candaba LGU partnership as a strategy of operating a multienterprise sweet sorghum utilization and commercialization project
 to learn lessons of varied organizations engaged in varied aspects of the sweet
sorghum industry here and abroad
CORE VALUES
 Work ethic “Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice, it is not
anything to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved” (William Jennings)
 Honesty “Be honest even if others are not, be honest even if others will not, be
honest even if others cannot (BCBP)
 Right living “You only live once, but if you work it right once is enough” (J.E.
Lewis)
 Creativity
 Social entrepreneurship
Note: Still in process, will be sent as soon as LGU-LGU Partnership inputs are available,
each participant however may fill it up so he/she comes to the Programme quite prepared
to participate.
GOALS
PROGRAMS/
PROJECTS
STRATEGIES/
ACTIVITIES
PEOPLE
INVOLVED
TARGET
DATE
TARGET
AREA
REMARKS
93
References
Resource materials retrieved from the Internet from January 1, 2011 to June 30,
2012
http://www.compas-malawi.com/cglossary.htm
http://www.umanitoba.ca/institutes/disaster_research/brazil/report3.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/community_organizing
http://www.proyectoideas.jsi.com/.../Section%201V%20Unit%205%20Mobilizin
g%20the%20Community...)
http://www.melkinginstitute.org/2010/02/developing-successful-cdc-organizingstrategies-and-campaignes/
http://www.pcup.gov.ph/html/programs/socialprep1.html
http://www.adb.org/documents/handbooks/resettlement/key_concepts05.asp
http://www.povertycafe.org/pcweb/archives/BSPP.htm
http://www.pcup.gov.ph/html/programs/steps.html
http://www.colostate.edu/Orgs/IISD/courses/Mobilization.html
94