Page 43 - AREA-6_PPP-Entreprenership

FROM OFFICE TO FARM FIELD: THE STORY OF MS ALFREDO ALOG

The story of MS Alfredo Alog is a story of a dream came true. “I always dreamed to
have my own farm and work on it everyday”.Fred, as many call him, had agriculture as a
career choice. After graduating in 1958 from the University of the Philippines at Los Banos
with a Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture, he entered Bureau of Agricultural Extension in 1959
and later the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in 1978. He started from Key
staff to Team Leader position and with his proven potential as an agriculturist he
became the DAR Provincial Officer in the same year.

According to him, farming is a main part of his life. Even before he became a development worker and public servant for agrarian
reform beneficiaries’ organizations (ARBOs) in Isabela, he started to establish his farm at Brgy. Nakar in Angadanan, Isabela. It was a
20-hectare allocated to various commodities such as banana, small ruminants, vegetables and pineapple. It was in November 2002 that
he joined the Farmers’ Scientist Bureau (FSB) – the Magsasaka Siyentista (MS) arm of the Techno Gabay Program (TGP) as the MS for
FITS LGU Angadanan after his r etirement from government service.

From among the commodities he planted in his farm, it is banana that he loves the most. He allocated three (3) hectares for
Saba banana production. At his age of 68, MS Alog still assimilates and improves his banana production farming practices. With this he
became the proponent of the Science and Technology – Based Farm (STBF) on Saba Banana Production which implemented Package
of Technology Options in improving farming practices to increase yield and income of banana farmers. The technologies he
promoted include distance of planting, use/application of f ertilizer, de-suckering as part of mat sanitation, drip irrigation and
construction of drainage canal, deleafing as part of the sanitary practices and debudding & fruit obstacle removal.

MS Alog had his share of misery brought by natural calamities
battering the valley. Crops such as banana suffer the most during strong
winds from typhoons. According to him, he experienced harvesting
nothing from his banana plantation because of Typhoon Pedring and
Quiel which battered Isabela in 2011. The incident did not made him stop
from farming, and made him persevere more in finding ways to adapt to
the challenges of his farm. “ I am looking at farming with much optimism,
I consider the problems I encountered as challenges, puzzles which
needs to be solved which made me love farming the more” according to

him. MS Alog smiles as he now sells his harvest from the banana
project..From his experiences as a farmer, he underlined the importance
of perseverance, dedication to learning and open mindedness. According to MS Alog, he continued to read agricultural magazines
and continuously updated his farming practices to keep abreast with the updates and new technologies in agricultural production.
“Complacence should not be the attitude of a farmer, he needs to continue to make his self informed and learn new practices as
well as adapt and make do with problems because farming activity is a challenging career; you need to be innovative” said MS
Alog. He believes that farming is a gamble- a risk taking activity which needs perseverance, dedication and open mindedness.
According to him he is now employed full time in another career which is in farming – making him shift from office to farm field. He
said that he would not exchange his farming life with other things. Mr. Alog quoted himself saying “Thanks to the Isabela State

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43 | P a g e - OBQA-PPP / Area VI: The Extension and Community Involvement/Entrepreneurship Program