Venancio Tornilo Garde Jr. graduated from Nueva Ecija University of Science & Technology Gabaldon Campus and obtained his Diploma in Agricultural Technology. Once, he was a volunteer Cathecist, SK chairman, and a Community Organizer of Gabay sa Bagong Pag-asa (GBP) SAFRUDI. He was also involved in other NGOs like MASIPAG, a farmer scientist partnership in Sustainable Agriculture. He is also part of PRRM or the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement, PABINHI (Pilipinas Pambansang Inisyatibo ng Pagbibinhi sa Pilipinas and currently he is part of SRI Pilipinas as National Trainer and Consultant.
Notable Contributions in SRI Pilipinas:
A Sustainable Agriculture Consultant, Senior Technical Associate and Project Coordinato PRRM/SRI-Flipinas Currently the SRI Trainer in SRI-Pilipinas SRI and Sustainable Agriculture Consultant In I releaf foundation Inc. from 2015 up to present
Swine Raising Consultant in Quirino provincial agriculture office from 2016 up to present
SRI-Trainer and Consultant ORAS-NA/people’s organization LGU-Aringay La-Union
SRI-Trainer SRI and Natural Farming Technology Oxfam –GB 2012
SRI and Sustainable Agriculture Consultant Bahay tuluyan 2016-present
Organic livestock Consultant Guingona farm Tarlac 2011 SRI-Trainer
SRI-Season Long Trainer AGREA-Foundation June to October 2016 National Trainer
Organic Field Support program Department of Agriculture 2009.
Mr. Garde is sixth among nine siblings. He is a generous brother willing to help his siblings as long as he can and able to help. A father that is willing to do everything for his family without thinking of how hard it is as long as he perform his duties as a father to his children. He was married for 10 years to her loving wife and they have 3 lovely children.
In every success stories there is always challenges and problems that we need to face. When he was in elementary level he experienced being pandesal and balot vendor just to have allowance. In his high school days at the age of 15 or 16 he became a miner, he mines using only shovel and other mining tools that are all manual. He goes in a tunnel without safety gears and had experienced debris falling on his head or back. It is not safe for his age to be in this type of job and environment but his motivation is to save money for his studies in high school and to help his family. He dreamt to finish school in a Mechanical Engineering Course but because of poverty he was not able to pursue it. He is thankful that there was an NGO that supported his studies in Agricultural Technology and during college he also served this NGO as his part time job.
Despite those challenges he did not give up because for him if you are determined in your dreams, you will do whatever it takes to achieve it. The challenges made him strong in every trials that he experienced. Every time he attends mass he always reflect on those experiences as part of his mission in life. Through it, he became resilient and had widen his perception about the world.
At present he loves his job as long as he is helping other people through Sustainable Agriculture and that’s why he is considering it as his mission in life. His happiness is overwhelming when he can see his former students in SA became successful. He believes that through him the source is helping to teach his students.
As a Roman Catholic his eyes and mind is already open with the help and supervision of his parents, he believed that he is here in this world to perform a mission and that mission is to help farmers to do the right things. He also wants to become a catalyst of change for the Philippines when it comes to Agriculture. He wants to share to other people that Organic Agriculture can assure food security that will feed their own family.
His dreams that one day, all the programs of the Department of Agriculture will be all for organic farming.