Our Communities

Lionheart in South Palawan

Our Partnership with the Indigenous Peoples Community

 

In 2015 Lionheart started conversations with the tribal community of Barangay's Ransang, Candawaga and Culasian in the Municipality of Rizal Palawan, which lead to our Memorandum of Agreement (MOA). Our partnership is for the community to contribute their land for the cultivation of organic coconuts. As Lionheart rents their land and provides priority employment to the host families, then we work harmoniously and diligently to establish a farming community which for generations can uplift the opportunity for everyone.   

 

Together we have developed a wide range of community programs focused on skills improvement, education and health as well as better understanding of Sustainable Development and organic farming practices.

 

Our partnership is based on mutual respect, dialogue to promote better understanding and always resolve conflicts through community consultations in harmony with the proud traditions of the Palawan Indigenous Peoples. Lionheart mandates that all of its leaders must familiarize themselves with the customary law, known as the Adat and the traditional commitment to dialogue, known as the Bizarra. The traditions of the Palawan tribe have taught us a lot and positively changed the way we work. 

 

Our Partner Farms

 

Since late 2018 Lionheart has extended the opportunity for local coconut farmers to join in our way of working, today we have rented hundreds of partner farms in fourteen Barangay's across the Municipalities of Rizal and Bataraza. All of these farms are now managed in accordance with the same sustainable organic farming principles as our own farm. Our commitment remains to provide for the most responsible development of our host community at large.  

 

Our Suppliers

 

With our commitment to Natural Farming then we are focused on the use of natural ingredients to deliver the required macro nutrients to our palms and to promote a healthy diverse soil. This approach provides both better yield and better protection for our crop but also for the environment and positively contributes to promote and protect the biodiversity. Rather than relying on imports then we rely on the local community to supply all the required ingredients. 

 

Today our large network of suppliers has become an entire community of its own and we work closely together. Much of our focus is to ensure everyone understand what we need and how they can benefit from working with us. This community engagement is open to even the smallest suppliers and has become an additional source of income and involvement for many families. 

 

Local Authorities 

 

Lionheart prides itself of always engaging proactively with local authorities as we respond to the greater needs of the community and partner with Government in many aspects to improve the livelihood and to ensure compliance. 

Rizal Day Celebration

Rizal Day Celebration

Rizal Day Celebration

Cultural Activity Lionheart celebrated the National heros birthday last July 19, 2020

Helping the Community

Kapit Bisig Project of Lionheart Farms

Mobile X Ray in Rizal

Raw Materials provided by the Locals of Rizal

Our Farm

Our coconut palms are planted in small pockets in the landscape without creating isolated biodiversity islands, without cutting wildlife corridors, and without disturbing natural forests. This follows from the regulations concerning our Agriculture and Forestry Development Plan (AFDP) with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and the agreement with the host community regulated through our Memorandum of Agreement, as supervised by the National Commission for Indigenous Peoples (NCIP). We adhere strongly to the medical ethos of "Do No Harm" and are blessed to farm a crop that can yield a bountiful harvest using modest inputs of land, water and nutrients, while providing a disproportionately high ration of employment per hectare to the benefit of the host community and the global food supplies.

 

 

Our Farm organized into six smaller farms

 

To localize our work as much as possible then Lionheart Farms is organized into six (6) Farms across three barangays in Rizal. Each farm works in partnership with the local community and strive to offer localized employment opportunities where especially the Indigenous Peoples can work on their own land and help to preserve the nature which their culture has evolved around for thousands of years for the benefit of generations to come.