“We are farmers, we will rise again in the new year.”
That is the battle cry of Maria Gina Banowski, president of the Mailum Organic Village Association located in the hinterlands of Barangay Mailum, Bago City, Negros Occidental.
Her 622 farmer-members have suffered through a grueling year, facing the devastation of their crops and farm animals during the Mt. Kanlaon volcanic eruptions and the relentless typhoons that hit in 2025.
The farmers are so hard up now, Banowski said she is deeply thankful that the Negrense Volunteers for Change (NVC), a non-government organization in Negros Occidental, was in their area on December 31 to bring aid to the community.
NVC gave the farmers of Barangay Mailum reason to smile on New Year’s Eve, a teary-eyed Banowski said.
NVC brightened their day by bringing them more than a truckload of groceries that enabled them to shop with a “twist.”
NVC President Millie Kilayko arrived in the upland village to ensure that farmer families would not only have food on their tables for New Year’s Eve but also the dignity of choice.
NVC transformed the distribution into an open-air grocery. Long tables were laden with essentials: rice, canned goods, dried fish, bread, margarine, and biscuits, alongside laundry soap, shampoo, and toothpaste.
Instead of receiving a pre-packed bag, residents were invited to walk along the tables and select the specific brands they preferred.
The mission didn’t stop with household essentials, as NVC also distributed stuffed toys to 431 children, ensuring that the youngest survivors of the year’s calamities had a reason to smile as 2025 ended.
For the farmer recipients, the timing of the mission was God-sent, as the supplies served as their “treats” for that night’s Media Noche.
Beyond the immediate relief, NVC also turned over rolls of UV sheets and nets for the association’s greenhouses and seedling stations which were destroyed by Typhoon Tino.
Banowski said she is thankful because these materials will help restore the association’s demonstration farm for high value crops.
Banowski, a best organic practitioner of Negros Occidental who previously lived in Germany, started the Mailum Organic Village Association in 2016. The group started with only 35 farmer-members but has since grown to 622 members who farm on close to 900 hectares of land.
The farmers are engaged in integrated farming, where they raise farm animals and grow root crops, vegetables, rice, sugarcane, including high value crops such as mushrooms, herbs, and asparagus.
They maintain a demonstration farm where new farming technology is introduced by government agencies and private groups to farmers who engage in natural farming, which does not use harmful chemicals.
They also engage in value-adding by converting their produce into crackers, flour, and crafts to enable the farmers to earn more.
Banowski said that the Kanlaon Volcano eruptions and typhoons that hit their area greatly affected these livelihoods, but with the help of government and private groups, like NVC, they are slowly getting back on their feet.
Currently, the community lives under the constant fear of another Kanlaon eruption as they work to recover from the devastation, she said.
Their crops have been destroyed, and their farm animals and the tilapia in their man-made fishponds have died.
But despite these immense challenges, the resolve of the community to rise again remains strong.
“We will get back on our feet again because we are farmers, we are fighters,” Banowski said.*