Agripreneur in Focus: Maribeth Cardano

Published by admin on January 3, 2018January 3, 2018

Maribeth Cardano, born in July 17, 1955, is an Ikabuhi Microfinance Program (IMP) member whose main source of income is farming. She owned a 5000-square meter of land that is being used for growing crops which is located in Matictic, Norzagaray, Bulacan.

Mrs. Cardano’s husband was an extensive user of chemical fertilizer and they have noticed that the chemical inputs that they used have a tremendous effect on their land which results a high acidity content. Due to this threatening practice, Mr. Cardano was accidentally poisoned by those chemical residues and this prompted Maribeth decided to shift to farm practices that does not use chemical inputs.

Incidentally, she is also part of the first batch of the training and mentoring program on “Organic-based Farm Practices, Social Enterprise Development and Farmer-Clustering” conducted by the Sustainable Agriculture Technicians (SAT) from the Lifebank Foundation, Inc. These exposures strengthened Maribeth’s desire to keep on and further improve her farm practices without the use of chemical inputs.

Mrs. Cardano commits to produce different organic herbs and leafy vegetables to meet the needs of her household and the retailers in the local market in Bulacan. She also supplies the raw materials needed by the Bayani Brew like camote tops and lemongrass. She intends to continue her advocacy for sustainable organic agriculture and is willing to share her knowledge with other farmers.