Mothers turned entrepreneurs thru veggie farming

(Feature)
Mothers turned entrepreneurs thru veggie farming

PANABO CITY, Davao del Norte, July 19 (PNA) -- It started with a backyard vegetable garden but with the aid of Davao City-based non-government-organization, they became regular suppliers of vegetables in the market.

These mothers of Sitio Tagurot, Barangay Nicolas, this city decided to bond together when Baba's Foundation, Inc. (BFI) reached out to them so they could improve their farming, provided they have to organize themselves, undergo seminars on basic business operations and maintain sound financial procedures.

BFI executive director Cristera Racosalem-Epal said that although they avail of loans at minimal amount, what is important is for them to know the basics in terms of lending and repayment.

She said they need to build their credit standing as well as build trust among themselves for continuity of the project.

One mother, Anita A. Monsanto, said kinahanglan gyud ang disiplina dili lang sa pamaagi sa pagtanom ug gulay apan sa imong loan para ma mintinar ang maayong relasyon namo sa BFI nga maoy nagtabang sa amo ug sa among pagbayad sa loan. (Discipline is the key not only in vegetable planting but also with our relation to BFI that help us and with our loan repayment).

"We found these mothers going to the right direction insofar as their vegetable farming operation is concerned because of their good credit standing," she said.

She said marginalized as they are, they were able to follow the techniques that brought mark improvement in their living.

Monsanto said there was a big difference between their lives in the 90s compared now when they followed the correct farming techniques and some basic business operations.

She said that before, aside from the lack of capital to support their operation, they had difficulty in the marketing as they had to pass through layers of middle men and not getting a good price of their products.

She also said there was an improvement in their income and they were able to send their children to school and build a house and acquire some appliances and other farm implements.

With each mother occupying about a hectare lot, they maximized their production by covering all areas of planting vegetables and with the loan they sourced out from BFI, they can now employ workers of at least two during planting and harvesting. The maintenance of the farm is left to the members of the family.

These mothers also formed the Tagurot Center 1 as their bagsakan center, where they deliver their proceeds and the BFI consolidates their produce for delivery to the market.

Both the BFI and the group check the prevailing price in the market.

Emily S. Comaling, BFI technical support staff, said there was check and balance as to the prices in the market.

She said there was a minimal mark up and this would go to the group's association.

Epal said these mothers were just among their beneficiaries of Sustainable Marketing with Information Link Enterprise (SMILE) Project, a project extended to poor communities.

The SMILE kicked off in March 2008 where it organized the ASTIG (Asosasyon sa mga Tiggama). It also organized membership and identified the leaders for the market matching and linking agri products among the target beneficiaries.

Eight ASTIG units were organized in the communities of Kiotoy, San Nicolas, Malabog, Fatima, Indangan, Panunlungan and Mudiang. The ASTIG units at present are engaged in corn trading, rice trading in bulk, and buy and sell of vegetables and fruits.

She said their repayment rate was at 97 percent and borrowers payment were done weekly even as she attributed the high rate with their unique "sitdown" approach, where technical support staff engage in a one-on-one monitoring and support to those borrowers on default, come up with a doable scheme until such time that the payment becomes active.

Epal said they started with this program in 2002 with only P250,000 as initial fund window. Now they have 4,000 beneficiaries around the island of Mindanao with total fund exposure of P20 million.

Epal said the P20 million fall under their program on DREAMS (Development Resources Thru Entrepreneurship Alternative Management System). Sixty percent of the fund is dedicated to Alalayan or Alalay Sa Kabuhayan, a program for low income families.

The BFI, she said, was being supported by the Foundation for a Sustainable Society, Inc. (FSSI).

Miriam Azurin, advocacy officer of FSSI, said the foundation was supported by the Swiss government through fund allocation of US$ 14 million in 1995 that financed projects geared towards sustainable economic development of marginalized communities in the Philippines. In 2008 total fund accounted to US$ 81.1 million.

She said the projects that they supported through loans or grants must focus on eco-enterprise resource that carries the triple bottom lines on economic viability, social equity and ecological soundness.

As of 2008, Azurin said it had a total beneficiaries of 183 eco-enterprises both for loans and grants with total portfolio of P443 million.

She said FSSI was the recipient of the proceeds of a debt reduction agreement between the governments of the Philippines and Switzerland in 1996.

The agreement was a result of a joint lobby effort between Swiss and Philippine NGOs. (PNA) PDB