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Sustainable bananas transform farming
30.01.2025 BFH-HAFL Professor Gurbir Bhullar marks more milestones for the "Going Bananas" project.
Project leader and Professor of Sustainable Agroecosystems Gurbir Bhullar is both excited and sad to see his five-year Going Bananas project in the Philippines winding down.
Launched in July 2020 by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), the project – set to finish in July – has helped smallholder farmers in the Cotabato region establish sustainable farming systems and a market value chain with organic bananas. BFH and various other organisations have been the project partners.

Celebrating the latest achievements
Gurbir is pleased he was in the Philippines last week for the announcement of the project’s most recent milestones.
“During my visit, an important activity was the inauguration of a model agroforestry farm, including a training centre, in Carmen,” he said.
“Various training sessions were also conducted, covering farm design, agroecological practices and vegetable production. The plan is for the model farm to evaluate and demonstrate the performance of different agroforestry systems.”
Another significant development was the approval of additional funding to support the project farmers.
“The provincial agriculture department has provided money for 80,000 tissue-cultured Cardava banana seedlings, 30 sets of farming tools, and a hauling truck to support the transport and marketing of produce for 1000 farmers in the community,” Gurbir said.

Building on success
These recent milestones add to an already impressive list of achievements. Among the most significant are:
- Outreach and dissemination of project technologies to over 1300 farmers, with a target of 2000 by the project’s end.
- Organising the farmers to create the Carmen Organic Slope Farmers Association (COSFA), which gives them negotiation power and helps them gain support from local authorities;
- At policy level, the first ever ordinance for organic farming which was passed last year by the municipality of Carmen.
“I’m happy that we could trigger a positive change,” said Gurbir. “And now the COSFA representatives and local agriculture department officers are well trained to carry on the project’s goals.
“It's inspiring to see people from different communities and belief systems – men, women, young and old – participating so enthusiastically in the workshops; so keen to learn and change.”

Transforming the community
The Cotabato region has been savaged by drought and over-farming but the Going Bananas project has offered farmers a way forward. Helping the community to grow sustainable produce has made a valuable contribution to farmer livelihoods and, therefore, boosts the whole community.
“The farmers told me they used to produce two, or even three, crops of yellow corn (maize) per year,” Gurbir said, “and for each crop they were using eight to 10 bags of different fertilisers and a lot of herbicides etc.
“To do this, they borrowed money from traders at very high interest rates and in the end when the crops were sold there were no profits. And if the crop failed, that left them in debt for a long time.”
Now with the agroforestry system, these farmers are breaking free from the debt cycle, the soil is protected from erosion, and they’re seeing sustainable yields.
“But the one thing that is missing for them,” Gurbir said, “is the suitable market connection for hand-produced, high-quality organic goods. I will be happy if we can establish a sustained supply chain to Swiss consumers.”
Looking ahead
Plans to continue this project in other regions are not on the table, but not off the cards.
“We have received a lot of queries and interest from other regions within the Philippines,” Gurbir said. “I also visited one of these sites during my trip and there might be opportunities to develop projects with similar principles.”
Gurbir will return to the Philippines again for the Going Bananas closing ceremony and stakeholder event in June.
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Category: International