" Sa una, nag-mais-mais lang mi, (before, we were only planting corns)" says Samuel Jimenia, 45 years old, a resident of Sitio Lower, Kinabalan, Malungon, Sarangani Province.

He went on to relate how his farm yield and the soil fertility declined after every cropping season when the rains would wash down the topsoil in the hilly landscape.

But things began to change in October 2002 when he started putting natural vegetative strips (NVS) on his farm using sitaria and lemon grass among others as hedgerows for the contours. He learned these during the many seminars and trainings he attended under the Upland Development Programme in Southern Mindanao (UDP). Three hectares of his 4.8 hectares farm lot are now fully developed and planted with a variety of crops and trees.

" Karon, lain-laing mga tanum naa dinhi (now, various plants are here)," relates Manong Samuel and pointed out several kinds of his planted fruit trees and cash crops which he now delivers to the nearby KIMALAKA Multi-Purpose Cooperative thus saves much on his energy and transport cost. He has even designated a watershed area for planting with forest tree varieties.

At present, his picturesque hilly landscape has become a learning site for his neighboring farmers and other visitors who want to draw experience from his farm. Their barangay captain, Eusebio Moral, who lives on the adjacent hill is quick to imbibe his improved farming methods, along with 6 other farmers who have become members of the Farmers’ Training Group (FTG). The FTG becomes a driving force on their community to encourage fellow farmers to employ the same agricultural practices suitable for the uplands.

Recently, a batch of Agricultural Technicians of Sarangani Province visited his farm as part of their exposure training and admired what Manong Samuel has done to his slopes and the over-all effect to his family and community life.

He is even confident that even when UDP’s assistance will finally fade out, he will continue to spread what he has learned and invite more farmers to follow the sustainable upland development practices as espoused by the programme.

“ Malipay ko nga makatabang sa uban maski boluntaryo lang, (I am happy to help others even if it is only voluntary),” wraps up Manong Samuel.

UDP’s goal is to develop a replicable model for sustaining the upland resource base and improving the quality of life of upland communities. At present, UDP is promoting a Sustainable Upland Development (SUD) model which, consists of the following schemes:

1. Land-Use Based Barangay Development Planning , whereby the community, barangay and municipal LGU and the DENR/NCIP together agree on which forest areas in the barangay to rehabilitate and protect as a forest and which areas to be used for sustainable agricultural development.

2. Barangay Forest Protection Management Scheme , whereby the community, mandated by the LGU and DENR, take the lead in rehabilitation and protecting the remaining forest pockets in their barangay as agreed upon in their barangay land use plan.

3. Agricultural Extension Scheme promoting diversified farming and sound soil and water conservation measures on the agricultural lands agreed upon in their barangay land use plan.

4. Labour-Based Routine Road Maintenance Scheme to keep vital barangay roads passable at relatively low transport costs.

UDP in Southern Mindanao is a Philippine-European Union Development Cooperation executed by the Department of Agriculture and implemented through the local government units, partner financial institutions and other participating agencies. It started on January 1999 and will end on July 2007