Kaluppâ Foundation

Cassava Training Completed, Lessons Coming Home

From May 12 to 14, our own JR Peñarubia and Lhen Ricohermoso represented Kaluppâ at the Training on Site-Specific Nutrient Management (SSNM) for Cassava at ATI MIMAROPA in Barcenaga, Naujan, Oriental Mindoro.

Three days of focused learning, field discussions, and real insights on how to better match nutrients with soil and crop needs. The kind of knowledge that helps make farming more efficient, more sustainable, and more intentional.

Now they’re back, carrying those lessons with them. Ready to apply, test, and share what they’ve learned with the rest of the team and the communities we work with.

Our sincere thanks to ATI-MIMAROPA for the space to learn and grow, to Resource Speaker Mr. Nel Oliver Mateo of UPLB College of Agriculture and Food Science, and to Center Director Pat Andrew Barrientos and his team for their guidance and support throughout the training.

At Kaluppâ, we keep showing up, learning what works, and bringing it home where it matters most. 🌱

MOGPOG BNS, READY TO GO DIGITAL 🚀

The Digital Literacy Training is here for Barangay Nutrition Scholars (BNS) of Mogpog! Empower yourself with essential computer skills and practical internet know‑how through this focused, hands‑on training designed to strengthen service delivery and reporting through technology.

BNS participants will learn:
✅ Microsoft Word
✅ Microsoft Excel
✅ Microsoft PowerPoint
✅ Internet Essentials
✅ eGov Super App

Enhance your capacity as frontliners in community nutrition by building digital confidence and improving efficiency in your daily work.

📍 Venue: RHU Conference Hall, Mogpog, Marinduque
📅 Date: May 20–21, 2026
⏰ Time: 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
👨‍🏫 Partners: Kaluppâ Foundation, DICT Region IVB - Marinduque, TESDA Marinduque, and LGU Mogpog Municipal Nutrition Action Office

✅ Who Can Join?
This training is currently organized for Barangay Nutrition Scholars (BNS) in Mogpog as part of our continuing rollout across communities.

Together, let’s strengthen grassroots health services through digital empowerment, one BNS at a time.

DOLE TUPAD Orientations, the Kaluppâ Way!

May 12 to 13, 2026 turned into two full days on the ground for us at Kaluppâ. We joined three DOLE TUPAD orientation activities across Caigangan in Buenavista, Poblacion in Torrijos, and Central Elementary School in Mogpog.

In total, 269 participants showed up, ready to listen, learn, and prepare for the opportunity ahead.

While DOLE walked everyone through the program guidelines, responsibilities, and what to expect from their 15-day work, we had the chance to sit down with them for a basic organic farming session.

We kept things simple and practical. How to take care of the soil. How to grow food in ways that are a bit cleaner and more thoughtful. Ideas that can be tried at home, even with limited space. It felt less like a lecture and more like a conversation. People were engaged and connecting the discussion to their own lives, which is always the best part for us.

By the end of each session, everyone received their farming PPEs and is now set to move forward into their 15-day agri TUPAD work.

We are grateful to DOLE Marinduque and to the Office of Vice Governor Doc Jun Bacorro for making space for both livelihood and learning. We are just glad we could be there to share what we know in our own small way.

At Kaluppâ, we believe good things grow when people are given the chance to start.

AND GOOD NEWS! Some of the participants have already started preparing their land and working on their organic fertilizers. We’ll be sharing more photos soon.

No shortcuts. Good farming starts with good groundwork.

Agri TVET Batch 15 is putting in the work before anything goes into the soil: land preparation, plot forming, and planning it all out. It’s not the most glamorous part, but it might be the most important. Clear land, well-formed plots, and a solid plan set the tone for everything that follows.

Because in farming, what you prepare today shapes what you harvest tomorrow.

Grabe yung init, but Batch 15 keeps showing up. Tuloy ang dilig, tuloy ang alaga.

Sa ganitong panahon, hindi puwedeng pwedeng ok na once lang. Water is everything para hindi ma-stress ang seedlings, para hindi matuyuan, para tuloy ang paglago. Nakakapagod, yes, but this is what care looks like. Paulit-ulit, tahimik, pero may patutunguhan.

Minsan, hindi loud ang malasakit… minsan, nasa simpleng pagbuhos ng tubig, araw-araw.

Our team went full agri‑scientist mode today at ATI MIMAROPA!

From digging into soil analysis to mastering the right fertilizer mix for cassava, it was a hands‑on, chemistry‑lab kind of learning day. Proof that good farming starts with good science, and a little lab magic in the field. 💚

Before trainings began, we made sure care came first.

All scholars of Agri Crops Batch B15 successfully completed their pre‑training medical checkup under Kaluppâ Care: TVET Learner and Staff Health Support.

The medical consultations were conducted by Dr. Romulo A. Bacorro, Jr., Kaluppâ Foundation’s Resident Physician, acting in his professional capacity as a licensed physician. All scholars were issued medical certifications following proper documentation.

At Kaluppâ Foundation, learner welfare comes first, before the lessons, before the skills, before the work begins.

Training on Site-Specific Nutrient Management (SSNM) for Cassava
12-14 May 2026 | ATI MIMAROPA, Oriental Mindoro

The Kaluppâ Foundation team is currently participating in the Training on Site-Specific Nutrient Management (SSNM) for Cassava for Learning Sites for Agriculture and Extension Service Providers, being held at ATI MIMAROPA, Barcenaga, Naujan, Oriental Mindoro.

The training is strengthening our understanding of site-specific, data-driven nutrient management for cassava, aligning the right nutrients, at the right rate, and at the right time based on soil and crop needs. These ongoing learnings are equipping us to improve soil health, increase productivity, reduce input inefficiencies, and practice more sustainable cassava farming, all of which directly enhance our current and future operations back at the farm.

Our sincere thanks to ATI MIMAROPA for the guidance, knowledge-sharing, and continued support to learning sites and extension service providers.

We continue to learn, apply, and prepare to bring these science-based practices home, where they matter most.

A week after seed sowing, our TESDA Agri Batch B15 is back in the crop nursery, watering their seedlings and checking on early growth. Just simple care, done daily, because healthy crops start with proper attention from day one.

Training of Trainers on Coffee and Cacao Production Systems
11-15 May 2026 | ATI MIMAROPA, Oriental Mindoro

Kaluppâ Foundation is spending the week at ATI‑MIMAROPA in Barcenaga, Naujan, Oriental Mindoro for the Training of Trainers on Coffee and Cacao Production Systems, alongside fellow Learning Sites for Agriculture and Extension Service Providers. As an ATI‑accredited LSA, this training fits exactly where we are headed, taking real steps toward coffee production on our own farm.

Marinduque already has coffee growing across the province, and its conditions make it ripe for doing even better. This training is both timely and strategic, helping strengthen how coffee and cacao are produced, managed, and sustained. With guidance from Trainer Joven Robinson Santos, the discussions stay practical and grounded, meant to be brought straight back to the field.

We were also glad to join the opening ceremony attended by ATI MIMAROPA Center Director Pat Andrew Barrientos, a good reminder that agriculture moves forward best when learning is shared.

Excited to bring all these coffee and cacao production know‑how back home, and turn them into real work, on real soil.

Before classes even start, our Agri Crops NC II Batch B15 is already outside, watering their crops and doing the basics. No fuss, no rush, just students taking care of what they planted and doing farm work the way it’s meant to be done.

This is everyday agriculture at Kaluppâ Foundation: show up early, tend the crops, then head to class.