JNA Awards 2012 Jewellery Industry Best Practices

39 JNA AWARDS 2012 sustainable livelihood alternatives to destructive fishing practices. The non-stock, non- profit organisation funded by Jewelmer and private donations also develops effective long-term conservation and management strategies for Palawan’s marine resources. Seminars on Natural Farming, medical missions, textbook donations to a local school, workshops on seedling planting as well as seedling and piglet distribution drives are just some of SPSF’s projects in recent years. SPSF’s main base is its Baras Marine & Agriculture Research Center (BMARC), whose primary beneficiary is the Sitio Calabugtong district in Taytay, Southern Palawan. The centre has been providing immediate community assistance through beekeeping projects and the farming of organic vegetables, sea cucumber and other marketable aquatic resources. On top of this, BMARC has introduced better planting and harvest techniques for mango and cashew. Some 600 families, mainly from indigenous groups, have also been benefiting from SPSF’s Seaweed Farming project in five barangays (villages) in the Palawan municipalities of Balabac and Bataraza. The foundation intends to expand the organic vegetable farming project to Sitio Calampisao and Barangay Batas, expand the beekeeping/farming project, establish a mini-nursery and seedling farm for Barangay Baras and set up the Calabugtong Medical Clinic and Nutrition Center. Community projects SPSF has undertaken at least three new livelihood projects for local communities this year. To help Palawan communities move up the cashew production chain, the foundation facilitated a Cashew Production and Processing Training workshop by the Department of Agriculture – Palawan Agricultural Experimental Station. Forty participants from four local communities attended the training session from April 17 to 19 at BMARC. The workshop taught attendees grafting and contour farming techniques for planting cashew as well as methods of processing cashew into finished products such as cashew jelly, cashew jam and cashew brittle. The workshop also resulted in the formation of the CasianKasuy Farmers Association, with 19 officers from the four communities. The association hopes to turn cashew production in Southern Palawan from a seasonal activity in the harvest season into a more profitable business endeavour, with processing taking place throughout the year. SPSF has pledged to assist the association with product presentation and marketing. Meanwhile, in May this year, SPSF held an Organic Vegetable Farming Training session in Sitio Dinet in Taytay, Palawan. The session’s 12 participants, mainly housewives who relied on fishing for their livelihood, learned the basics of organic farming such as collecting beneficial microorganisms and making compost piles. They also received vegetable seeds to help them start their organic farms. Also in May this year, SPSF installed a Palawan Hornbill artificial nest in Baras, Palawan in the hope of arresting the steep decline in the number of these birds in the last 10 years due to habitat destruction, hunting for food and the live bird trade. Pearl farming specialist Jacques Branellec, bottom, and Filipino entrepreneur Manuel Cojuangco are the driving forces behind golden South Sea cultured pearl producer Jewelmer One of Jewelmer’s Philippine boutiques Golden Palawan South Sea cultured pearl rings from Jewelmer’s Tropics Collection