The predicament in Plum Mitan: Residents say closure of farm led to job losses, community challenges

In Plum Mi­tan, the once-promis­ing Marp­er Farm, known for its prop­a­ga­tion ini­tia­tives, is fac­ing a de­cline.

Af­ter a 2012 re­vival that pro­duced 300,000 plants, which cre­at­ed a two-year On-the-Job Train­ing (OJT) pro­gramme for 40 res­i­dents in the rur­al com­mu­ni­ty, the farm, which falls un­der the Min­istry of Agri­cul­ture, has seen its plant pro­duc­tion, rang­ing from fruits, co­conuts, cit­rus, av­o­ca­dos, cashews and bread­fruit, take a nose­dive.

The pro­gramme, which bol­stered jobs in the agri­cul­tur­al com­mu­ni­ty, was dis­con­tin­ued in 2017, cre­at­ing a rip­ple ef­fect.