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Anuar Bahary

Fruits

A good student is most likely to succeed. Anuar is now a household name, an icon, in his barangay and in the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries-ARMM (DAFARMM) office in Bongao. He is among the most successful farmers trained in TCP 4, according to municipal agriculturist Aida Jumli.

He reported an average income of P30,000 from his vegetables. In the Bongao Public Market, Anuar’s vegetables compete with other TCP 4 produce.

Vegetable-based assets

Anuar said he now imports oil from Sabbah, Malaysia. A liter of oil is sold at P45 in Bongao. Lots of oil containers can be seen around his house. No one accuses him of smuggling.

What’s more, Anuar has bought a 2.5 ha land! In it he has planted some 200 coconut trees, where he profits from copra production, and his vegetables! To help him in some farm
chores, he bought a cow and a carabao.

Asked if his children are his farm hands, he said no. His children are in school preparing themselves for the future, he said.

Trace it to the roots

He shared fate, industry, and TCP4 are the secrets to his success.

Zaldy Amilassan, agricultural promotion officer in Tawi-Tawi, said Anuar makes sure all farm chores are properly done. He regularly visits his farm, which explains why he is not caught flat-footed by pests and diseases, resulting in high yields.

Anuar's wife maintains the sari-sari store

“Our house before was not even comparable to a cow’s shed. Coconut fronds served as our wall,” he said.

Now, they have some appliances like television, DVD player, electric fan, and radio. His only wife is still managing a sari-sari store.

Anuar’s door is always open to TCP 4 team members who go to his house. He offers refreshments, and updates them of any developments in his life and farm. Anuar said all this are made possible by vegetable production, which he learned in TCP 4.