The right assistance, partnership ventures, and cooperation can help land reform be successful and enable workers to manage a farm by themselves collectively, said Auke Idzenga, chief executive officer of the Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation Inc. said, at the inauguration of an essential oil distillation plant of the Nakalang Padilla Farm Workers Association, in Brgy. Ilijan, Bago City, Negros Occidental, recently.

Idzenga, whose group had won worldwide recognition for developing the ram pump technology, has partnered with the Alter Trade Corporation and the Department of Science and Technology in establishing the lemon grass distiller for the NAPFWA farmers, a press release from the group said.

Aside from the lemon grass production and now being processed, the farmers at Nakalang are also into rice production for food consumption; sugarcane as cash crop under fair trade conditions; and, through ATC and AIDFI, are advocating social change through sustainable farming using technologies and marketing.

The lemon grass distiller project was realized through the financial assistance AIDFI received from DOST, through its Grant-in-Aid program, which is aimed at harnessing the country’s scientific and technological capabilities to spur and obtain sustainable economic growth and development.

Present during the inauguration program were Alter Trade Corporation officers Norma Mugar, Gilda Caduya, and Elizabeth Mondejar; manager Arnel Ligahon of Alter Trade Manufacturing Corporation; and Bago City councilors Allan Galunan, Ruben Torres, Bernadette Somcio, and Ma. Josefa Matti, the press release said.*

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