CEBU, Philippines - She could have chosen to continue her stable job as a nurse and go abroad to practice her profession there.
But Lucille Alegrado-Ubanan, 31, believed she was meant for something greater that would answer her thirst for having an impact in the community.
She wanted something sustainable and to satisfy her desire to do something different.
And she has found it in farming, a field which is a far cry from what she used to do as a nurse.
For several years, she had worked in hospitals in Cebu specializing in clinical research.
Until such time when she developed the interest to venture into farming, driven by various factors.
One is she learned that most diseases are acquired from unhealthy lifestyle and that consuming natural foods is a better way to prevent diseases.
"We started our farm business after several clinical studies that a lot of diseases are acquired mostly from the unhealthy lifestyles. One of the remedies could be introducing healthy foods like salads and greens which is our business today," the 31-year-old farm entrepreneur told The FREEMAN in an interview.
She also wanted to help local farmers and give them livelihood and make an awareness on food security, something very important in an ever growing communities today.
It was in 2010 when Cebu Green Lantern AgribizFarm Inc. was born out of the desire to promote the consumption of healthy and natural foods and capacitate local farmers.
"I was motivated and inspired by my superiors in the studies last 2010 to do farming," she said.
Together with her husband, Michael Ubanan, 41, Lucille started the farm business by partnering with her colleagues in the medical field who had idle land suited for farming.
Cebu Green Lantern's farm is located in Barangay Taptap in upland Cebu City, spanning less than a hectare of land.
"We started planting cassava, vegetables, melons and then lately lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper and herbs," she said.
Learning
They hired experts to help them make use of the modern technology to increase farm output as they also got support from their business partners financially and logistically.
The nurse-turned-entrepreneur also had invested to study in Malaysia to learn more about modem farming.
She admitted she had zero knowledge about farming before but her thirst to learn pushed her to love the farming field.
She did her own research on farming and where to source the seeds of plants they need.
Eventually, Lucille and her husband, who used to work as a seaman, resigned from their respective professions to focus on managing their growing farm business.
Today, Cebu Green Lantern supplies the vegetable requirements of Plantation Bay, Diet in a Box, some small and medium enterprises and households as well.
On a weekly basis, the farm produces around 500 kilos of mixed produce including lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumber, among others.
She said their goal is to double the weekly production volume or increase even more in the future.
Now the farm is compliant to GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) which ensures food safety and quality.
'More than a business'
Lucille comes from a family, both her paternal and maternal sides, who have a history in dealing with cancer.
This was also one strong reason why she decided to really go into the farming venture.
"The farm business has a good potential not only financially but can help us prevent from dreaded diseases like cancer, which is common today," she shared.
"Farming also is a very comforting and satisfying that in our own little way we help people create awareness on safe and food security," she added.
She believes in the saying "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food." This is a motivational quote she got from Hippocrates, who considered the father of medicine.
"I also believe in the common saying that 'Prevention is better than Cure'," she said.
Like in most ventures in life, starting the farm was also a challenge.
She thought making a feasibility study was obviously necessary.
Getting government support was also quite a challenge for them.
They started with trials and errors until such time with the help of the experts, they gradually produced their desired products.
Challenges
Lucille shared that one of the major challenges is educating and training farmers, saying it is very difficult for them to change their mindset and understand the new ways of farming.
Currently they employ around 10 farmers.
"We also have to adopt to the recent climate change that we are experiencing," she said.
She lamented that the unpredictable weather today is really a big challenge to farm businesses as it significantly affects production and income.
In fact, a time came when they were about to give up the farm business because it was financially affected by weather disturbances.
"Slowly we are able to adjust. We started reaping our harvest and still investing for the improvement of the farm," the farm entrepreneur said.
Looking ahead, she also shared that one of their long-term goals is to transform Cebu Green Lantern into an agri-ecotourism farm in the future.
For now, they are focused on growing more specialty crops which they hope to introduce in the Cebu market, and also developing their niche market for these products.
Lucille believes there are still a lot of varieties of vegetables and herbs that are worth introducing in the Cebu market which she describes as very open to new products.
"The challenges are never ending. It greatly increases our horizons, motivate us to work, innovate and adopt to changes. It develops our passion of farming especially that we are able to have abundant harvest and grow the uncommon crops which are in demand in our market," the entrepreneur shared. (FREEMAN)