Jan Kaya hails from the Palawano tribe, one of the indigenous people’s groups in the Palawan Province,
Philippines. Through a scholarship program of a foreign mission group, this young man who is a
committed believer of Jesus, was able to go to college and in September 2023, he proudly earned his
college degree in Agriculture. This feat is huge for Jan considering that the indigenous people in general
gravely suffer from lack of education. Committed to helping his own people, he went back to serve in his
community which is located in the mountains of the municipality of Rizal. Jan was very eager to use his
college training. However, even after four years in college, Jan did not have a very clear direction on
how to begin his gardening projects. Then in March 2024, he participated in the RPRC Natural Farming
Training which was one week long.
RPRC’s main focus on its training is to equip pastors and local churches on how to use sustainable
agriculture to provide for themselves and also as a very effective avenue by which they can reach those
who don’t know Jesus in their respective communities. Jan learned practical, simple, and doable natural
farming practices which included minimum tillage of the soil, proper way of composting, mulching, and
the crucial role of microorganisms to ensure living soil in the garden. Every technology that was taught
uses the natural resources found in the environment. Another extremely helpful topic to him was the
seed saving because availability of quality seeds is a real problem of the people living in rural Philippines.
When he went back home, he immediately implemented a lot of what he learned starting only with 20
feet by 20 feet garden as taught in the RPRC training; and in a few months’ time, he was harvesting a
variety of common Filipino vegetables such as long beans, winged beans, eggplant, tomatoes, and okra.
Through his produce, Jan helped feed other Filipino missionaries who are also serving the Palawano
people in the area. He also started saving seeds for his next planting season. Happy with his success, Jan
was starting another garden of the same dimension next to his first garden to plant other types of
vegetables.
Reported by Cora Carter after her visit in Jan’s community in Rizal, Palawan, Philippines.
