It is admirable how many people take up agriculture as a course and then further embrace environment as an advocacy. It is about the same admiration I have for men who take up the arts like dance and music.

Lawrence “Oyen” Padilla was such a graduate of UP Los Banos (UPLB) in 1986. He and his group mates in school belonged to Kappa Phi Sigma, which he quickly points out, though Greek letter in name, is a socio-cultural group whose main advocacy is Conservation. He and his group mates formed Palawan Center for Appropriate Rural Technology (PCART) when they were sent to Puerto Princesa in 1987. They wanted to give alternatives to the kaingin or “slash and burn” methods of the rice farmers. They offered them the kalabaw-araro-suyod (carabao- tiller- rake) method if they stopped burning the forests. But to adopt this new method, they also had to offer the farmers new crops to plant besides rice. To make the farmers’ lives more economically sustainable, he and his group had to think of a crop that would be light to transport, can be preserved for long periods and had high economic value.

What plant would this be? The answer is herbs.

At about the same period, a group of active doctors composed of Dr. Jaime Galvez-Tan, Drs. Socrates, Quijano and Gomez—all from the UP College of Medicine—started looking into the herbal and alternative medicine sector. It is interesting to note that these four belonged to a batch of Medical school graduates, a majority of whom chose to remain in the country to serve the people.

Just like in Malcolm Gladwell’s book , there are people born in the same period( born year 1948 for this group) who choose to do similar projects ( just like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates who were born 1954 and 1955).

Padilla went to see Dr. Gomez who was then working for a pharmaceutical laboratory who was starting to promote herbal medicine like Lagundi. Padilla would be able to get funding from a German non-government organization Helvetas if someone professional like Dr. Gomez would vouch for his project proposal. The Helvetas project was approved in 1997 and his group would have until 2001 to finish the project.

The group weathered the challenges such as how to get a dryer working in the mountains, using biomass as fuel and perfecting the drying process to come up with a product that would be considered “pharma-grade” and commercially-viable. The group did the requisite soil tests, heavy metal tests and soon, the revolutionary farmer- entrepreneurs were on their way to commercial and environmental success.

Now, Padilla’s group has enlisted over a thousand households who grow the following herbs, root crops, tubers and plants: Lagundi, which is now a P2-billion a year industry, Ampalaya which is a known natural remedy for Diabetes, Lemongrass, Sambong, Turmeric (known to decrease dementia and Alzheimers disease), and he can actually “grow anything” you could possible need for tea, powder and other nutraceutical forms of herbal remedies.

It has been a good 12 years and Padilla keeps on planting, engaging the communities in Palawan and encouraging them to finally abandon the kaingin method, while finding a good sustainable enterprise in herbs and their by products.

So, aren’t Agriculture graduates simply admirable? And if you coupled that with environmentalists who have business sense, you have a winning idea!

Chit Juan is a founder and owner of ECHOStore sustainable lifestyle, ECHOmarket sustainable farms and ECHOcafe in Serendra and Podium malls. She also heads the Women’s Business Council of the Philippines and the Philippine Coffee Board Inc., two non-profits close to her heart. She often speaks to corporates, youth and NGOs on social entrepreneurship, women empowerment, and coffee. You can follow her on twitter.com/chitjuan or find her on facebook:Pacita “Chit” Juan. Email her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .