About six years ago Merco Obas who grows vegetables in an indigenous peoples’ farming community in upland San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, nearly gave up farming in the hope of finding a job in Manila so his family could survive.
Obas’ house had burned down and he did not have enough buyers for the large volume he was growing at the time, even though he was willing to sell at the traders’ disadvantaged prices.
He was ready to sell just enough to buy a one way ticket to Manila and seek his fortune in the big city, when the Negrense Volunteers for Change (NVC) Foundation, which manufactures Mingo Meals for malnourished children, connected with him and purchased all his produce at fair trade prices.
The 60-member Bukidnon Farmers Association (BOFA) which Merco belongs to, who own 100 hectares of ancestral domain, became NVC’s regular source of a variety of vegetables. Merco was able to build a house for his family after a year, and no longer needed to leave the farm.
Merco’s saga, was the catalyst of their vision that began to see fruition with the groundbreaking of a farm based Food Processing Center Thursday, March 24, Millie Kilayko, NVC president, said.
“For five years, we peddled our dream of turning the farm into a city where all produce leave with value added, where new jobs are generated and higher learning will be in demand because of a variety of economic activities. We dreamt of a whole community, not just Merco, staying away from the big city because their farm already provided opportunities for growth,” she said.
“The food processing center, which will be operated by the IP community’s women’s organization, will manufacture a variety of fruit and vegetable based products as well as provide NVC Foundation’s Production Plant in Bacolod with pre-processed nutritional ingredients. Because of this, family income will double, produce will leave the farms with value added, and demand for youth with higher learning will increase as a new economic center rises”, KiIayko added.
The plant was designed and will be built by Base Bahay Foundation using its bamboo construction technology. It will be typhoon and earthquake resilient, insect resistant and Food and Drug Administration-compliant.
Kilayko also named Sunlife Canada, through Sunlife Foundation, as another major partner to the project, and credits them for being the first to catch-on to their five year old dream. Sunlife provided the initial start-up fund on the building that Base Bahay is enlarging, as well as the plant’s food processing equipment, she said.
Maricen Jalandoni, Base Bahay Foundation president and Asia Hilti Foundation liaison, said they have developed affordable housing using cement bamboo technology.
Now they are looking at other social projects that have greater economic impacts on communities, that is why they are working with NVC, which has values aligned with theirs, Jalandoni said.
“NVC has very sustainable projects that go beyond just a onetime effort, it really takes a look at how they can create an environment where the farmers can eventually be economically independent”, she said.
Johann Baar, Hilti Foundation director for affordable housing and technologies and Base Bahay Foundation trustee, said he is extremely happy with the food processing plant project.
“That is because at Hilti Foundation it is always important for us to create what we call help for self help. We want to create sustainable structures that help communities develop through their own efforts and I feel helping with a food processing center really creates economic opportunities in the long term to help families make a better living,” Baar said.
“It’s engaging in something more than housing, its creating social structures that help social development…for us in a way that is breaking new ground,” he said.
Baar said he is very excited to see how they can develop into other projects with similar purposes.
Base Bahay, which has partnered with Gawad Kalinga and Habitat for Humanity has built 1,000 houses in the Philippines, about 350 of which are in Negros Occidental, he said
“Housing is just a starting point, our aim is to create network of partners that engage in social development, to bring change for the better,” he said.*