SEEDS ARE LIFE: MASIPAG's Roots

In 1980, glaring spread of rural poverty in the Philippines prompted NGOs (primarily the ACES Foundation) and a group of progressive scientists to initiate consultations with farmers in different areas of the country. These consultations dealt with the impact of HYV on small farmers and other issues related to the rice industry. With the involvement of other farmer support groups, these series of consultations were coordinated between the three regions: Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, which culminated to a national convention in mid-1985 dubbed "BIGAS Conference" or Bahanggunian Hinggil sa Isyu ng Bigas. A year after that landmark gathering, a farmer-NGO-Scientist partnership was formed and its first project was born - primarily to break the control of local and multinational fertilizer and pesticide companies, multi-lateral rice research institutes and distribution cartels over the rice industry. The Multi-sectoral forum (MSF), a group of professors, scientists and researchers in UPLB, took the lead role of composing the technical pool of what is then known only as "farmer-scientist partnership."

Capitalizing on mere commitments and the spirit of volunteerism, a fund-raising activity dubbed "Piso-Piso Para sa BIGAS" was initiated to gather enough seed money for starting a farmer-led project. By June 25, 1987, the "Farmer-Scientist Partnership for Agricultural Development, Inc." was formally granted registration under the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), ready to embark on what is now known popularly as The MASIPAG Project - Magsasaka at Siyentipiko Para sa Pag-unlad ng Agrikultura.

For the last 17 years, MASIPAG has been at the forefront of development struggles in the Philippines pursuing, among other things, a holistic approach to development, community empowerment, and people's control over agricultural biodiversity as a contribution in the over-all effort of improving the quality of life of small farmers."

A year after that landmark gathering, a farmer-NGO-scientist partnership was formed and its first project was born primarily to break the control of local as well as multinational fertilizer and pesticide companies, multi-lateral rice research institutes and distribution cartels over the rice industry.

At present, MASIPAG has a total of 456 base POs, 42 NGOs, and 15 people in its pool of scientists who composed the General Assembly which serve as the highest policy and decision-making body of the network. This body determines the direction/thrusts of the program. The elected Board of Directors acts as an advisory and policy-making body ensuing that decisions in the General Assembly are enforced/implemented. A Secretariat based in Los Banos, Laguna assists the coordination of activities in the regions. Effectively coordinating its growing membership is the decentralized operations of the Regional Project Management Teams (RPMT) in every region. The RPMTs spearhead the program implementation in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.