After dedicating 44 years to shaping minds as an agriculture professor at the Mindanao State University (MSU), Dr. Celeste N. Querijero was offered a prestigious international consultancy post, a tempting opportunity that recognized her expertise and decades of experience.
But she chose to stay closer to home to empower small farmers in the community by sharing her knowledge of sustainable farming that defined her teaching career.
"Even before I retired, I already had a deep passion for agriculture," she said. "As MSU's coordinator for extension services, I saw firsthand the pressing needs of our farmers. They wanted knowledge, access, and a stable livelihood. So after retirement, I volunteered myself to serve. It's my way of giving back after all the blessings I've received throughout my career."
True to this calling, Querijero founded the CNQ Diversified Farm in Sitio Saguing Patag, named after her initials. With mushrooms as her flagship crop -- an expertise she honed while writing her dissertation in Thailand — she began cultivating oyster mushrooms, and later expanded into a diversified farm ecosystem, which includes mulberries, ilang-ilang, coconuts, mangoes, vegetables, legumes, peanuts, sweet potatoes, and ube.
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