(Part II of a series on M.L. Prof. Charuphant Thongtham)
In 1986 Professor Charuphant “Noi” Thongtham of the Agriculture University of Kasetsart finished his BS in Agriculture at the Central Luzon Agricultural College (CLAC) in Muñoz, Nueva Ecija. For four years in Nueva Ecija, he felt he learned very much. Today, as our consultant at the 16-hectare Sulsugin Alfonso farm on the border of Tagaytay, he wondered why the Thais who are not as advanced, can do much more than Filipinos.
Married to a Filipina, Normita Bunao who is a former Bangkok Post editor, Prof. Noi remembered years ago when he drew a plan for his brother-in-law who owns a rice field and onion farm in Nueva Ecija. He proposed to fence the land with Bangkok bamboos since these sell well in the market. The onion can be crop-rotated with other vegetables. A four meter by eight meter pond can be dug and filled up with catfish from Bangkok. He reminds his brother-in-law not to think of bangus. Thais prefer hito and dalag since they are not bony.
The Professor was disappointed when his brother-in-law rejected the idea for “he cannot reprogram his farming anymore.” Prof. Noi did not foresee that 30 years later he would set up this model in our Operation Brotherhood Montessori school farm in BF Las Pinas.
The frustation of setting up a farm high school
In the ‘80s, I opened the Operation Brotherhood Montessori Professional High School to follow Dottoressa Montessori’s idea of the technical high school to quench the adolescent thirst for economic independence. My frustration was aggravated when I realized that the Agriculture teachers I recruited from Silliman University, Silang, Cavite or Los Banos may have average to high average intelligence, but did not know much about actual farming, let alone managing a farm. Their agriculture knowledge was limited to cash crop products such as rice, onion and tomatoes and generally lacked true love for plants. Then I met M.L. Professor Charuphant Thongtham, the horticulture expert of the University of Kasetsart in Bangkok.
To get the professional help of the University of Kasetsart to set up a model school farm, Prof. Noi gave me a comprehensive tour of the various projects in Thailand like the 240-hectare off-campus farm of the Kasetsat University and the Rayong pineapple research plantation and the Chiang Mai Royal Project of His Majesty Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Prof. Noi said, “The best way I can help you put up a farm is to use an upland property about 800 feet in altitude similar to Chiang Mai. Then, we can duplicate His Majesty’s self sufficiency farm.”
How the Thai King’s Royal Projects helped farmers in crisis
In 1980, His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej learned from a Meao tribesman that apart from poppy they had another cash crop, a local peach which can only be used for pickling. Yet, this peach produced for them nearly as much income as opium. His Majesty then thought that by grafting improved variety onto local rootstock, the fruit should become bigger and produce higher income than illegal poppy. This is how he founded the Royal Project chaired by Prince Bhisadej Rajani assisted by Prof. Noi.
The King said, “If we can help hill tribes produce useful crops for more money, they will abandon poppy cultivation. This will enhance our policy of stopping the trading and smoking of opium. Another important consideration to note is that the hill farmers employ ‘slash and burn’ cultivation, where the forest is destroyed causing severe damages to our country. If we help them farm in a proper manner, our country will benefit. By giving hilltribes good lives, they will support our policy of soil and forest conservation with long lasting benefit.”
In 1997, during the first major economic crisis which set back Thailand, the King was able to persuade the Thais to go back to the countryside. He publicized the “New Theory of Self-Sufficiency” Farming. A Philippine-trained agronomist Manoon Pumklon, Prof. Noi’s classmate in CLAC, Nueva Ecija was assigned to direct the Lopburi Crop Experiment Station. In the crisis, the food in Thailand retained their original price. The Thai King leased a 6,000 square meter to one-hectare model farm to each farmer. After only a year, the rice harvest multiplied to several tons from 180 kilos. It includes vegetable and sampaguita gardens, a bamboo grove with dendroclamus asper, fruit trees and a fishpond which is also used during drought.
MOA signing between O.B. Montessori and Kasetsart University
In 1998, a MOA was signed between the Kasetsart University president, Thira Sutabutra and myself as O.B. Montessori president and chief executive officer. Prof. Noi has helped our school use Thai farming technology through exchange of instructors and instructional materials, publications, purchase of advanced farming equipment and tools. Advised by Prof. Noi, I sent two agriculture teachers to Thailand – Pancho Francisco and Anette Gamit together with our OBMC finance assistant. They worked with the professor’s trusted assistants who spoke English at the Tropical and Highland Horticultural Corporation, production center at the Royal Project Foundation. Upon their return, the commercial type seed germination shed, nursery and compost making sheds designed by the professor, were almost completed. It cost P250,000 without its automatic sprinklers. For tissue culture training and forest tree conservation Nida Indiongco and Felix Cacatian were also sent.
Between 1998 to 2003, Prof. Noi helped set up two farms: a half-hectare OBMC school farm in BF Las Piñas campus and an 11-hectare farm in Sulsugin, Alfonso, Cavite bordering Tagaytay. He taught us fern spore propagation and bioliquid production and hito fish cultivation.
Farm school operations abroad
There are a lot of farm high schools in Australia. This dates back to their history when convicts from England were sent to this new continent. The clearing of the wilderness led to the establishment of agriculture high schools which still exist today. Saul’s High School Farm in Sydney, Adelaide Agro-Tech School, and the King’s School in Melbourne had faculty members who wrote their lessons in book form instead of lesson plans. This is possible because the teachers are practitioners who knew the actual practice of vegetable, ornamental and fruit tree production besides raising farm animals.
(Part III: Establishing a Financially Sustainable School Farm)