(From left, top row) Mario Narca, Jr., Reynaldo Mariñas, Vincent John Castro, June Abrajano, Leomar Fulgencio, Randy Fulgencio, Arsenio Balagot, Jr., Marcelino Sanchez,Valiente Tolentino , Ruben Ariola, Arturo Lagunilla, Aldrin Tolentino, Fredie Pagaduan, Maximo Pimentel, Marvin Concepcion,Edwin Cabanesas, Jose Corpuz. (From left, bottom row) Edwin Mananquil, Bryan Lasquite, Prudencio Vallejo, Albert Fulgencio, Mario dela Cruz, Jonmer Romano, Randy Castro, Danilo Lawagan, Jose Azarcon
The mantra “teamwork makes great field work” works for 27 male field farmers at our Agronomy, Soils, and Plant Physiology Division (ASPPD) who take charge of all farm operations of the 8 core and externally funded projects of the division.
Each laborer maintains his own field experiment, but they also team up when necessary as the nature of the task like transplanting demands. Their activities include bund construction, installation of water pumps, land preparation, data gathering, fertilizer treatment application, soil and plant sampling and processing, harvesting and processing of yield and yield component samples.
In hot weather, they work on adjusted working time and render overtime voluntarily on weekdays and weekends during tough weather conditions and land preparation when much labor is required. Their bayanihan spirit, resourcefulness, volunteerism, dependability, and outstanding work ethics like reporting and working earlier than normal working hours make them stand out among other laborer groups. This helped them meet their targets thus receiving verbal commendations from their superiors and Deputy Director for Research, Dr. Eduardo Jimmy P. Quilang.
“I acknowledge those laborers who showed commendable performance. The Division also gives them simple tokens in cash or in kind in recognition of their exemplary performance to keep them motivated at work,” ASPPD Field Supervisor Alex J. Espiritu said. (JA Diamsay)
