Nuts Going Bananas

Denuded Palo 19...

It is the second smallest barangay in the town of Tampakan in the province of South Cotabato, and acts as the boundary between the province of Sultan Kudarat. It was once blessed with abundant forest resources.

The families of B’laan who originally settled in the area enjoyed the rich resources but due to a series of logging concessions granted to Habaluyas, Henry Wee, Chonglao and the Bayanihan Logging Company, the trees dwindled to a staggering and deathly number through the years. For almost 20 years, the mountain slopes were cleared of its old and huge mahogany trees and other primary grown forest plants.

The logging operation also brought a great number of migrants from Leyte, Zamboanga and neighboring towns. Most of the already denuded forests were cleared and converted for homes and farmlands. Farmers then were practicing technologies like ‘slash and burn’, mono-cropping, and non-synchronized cropping patterns, soil erosion worsened, and incidence of pest and rat infestation of crops increased.

Even in this remote area, land conflicts between the B’laan and Christians occur and were settled only in 1988. The New People’s Army and the Bangsangmoro groups also occasionally pass through Palo 19 for background checks but there were no major conflicts involving these groups.

The barangay also had very limited physical and social infrastructure. Its roads were of poor quality and in order to reach most areas, one either rode a horse or walked.

There are no post harvest facilities, no electricity, and no health center. Health personnel and volunteers provided only basic health services. There is a high school and an elementary school. The main water sources for the 260 households are undeveloped and unprotected springs.

After the advent of logging, agriculture became a very unprofitable enterprise. Middlemen provided trading, marketing, and credit services, including cash advances and loans to be charged against crops. Selling prices for crops were mainly determined by these middlemen and the farmers have very little to do with their lot.

From miscalculations to community integration…

Looking back, the small and mountainous barangay was formerly the 19th station of a logging company in the 1970s. What’s left of its forest reserves were almost laid bare by a series of logging concessions operating in the area until the 1980s? This fact alone significantly indicated the need for constructive recovery in Palo 19.

Fortunately, the UDP (1999) selected the barangay as its first coverage area in Tampakan. The schemes applied in assisting the community includes, facilitating the formulation of the community watershed plan, training for farmers on sustainable and environmentally sensitive agriculture technologies, facilitating access to and provision of agriculture infrastructure support, and the provision of the marketing and enterprise extension infrastructure.

Today, the story of Palo 19 significantly evolves in its own upland barangay association called the Federation of Palo 19 Upland Farmers’ Association, Inc. organized. It’s primarily purpose is to enter into a community-based forest management agreement with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and secure land tenure for the farmers.

In 2001, a ‘Bagsakan’ center was conceptualized to pave the path for the trading of community’s major crops. The activity strengthened the organization, and revitalized community participation and interest in the communal efforts towards development. The center was intended as a means of consolidating goods and of improving access to buyers and farmers’ bargaining power in the market. Realizing that there was a big market for peanuts at that time, the community went into peanut production. However, the concept that the center would act as a consolidator of products did not materialize, and actual operations were limited to peanut buying and storage.

Miscalculated moves…

In 2002, the membership of the FPUFAI to the Mindanao Peanut Industry and its status as ’Seed Producer in Southern Cotabato’ enabled it to access an institutional buyer in Manila, who required 10 tons per shipment, at P50 per kilo. However, the venture resulted into a huge loss due to rat infestation. Furthermore, the unsynchronized planting and harvesting of farmers accounted for the failure in achieving the required volume of production. Helpless, the center then sold the peanuts to buyers within the municipality, as well as in Tacurong and Tantangan, at less than the procurement price.

The damage caused by rat infestation, the lack of capital, lack of organizational capability to manage a communal enterprise, and other issues relating to management of finances and general operations of the enterprise, led to the closure of the ’Bagsakan’ center operations in 2002.

The revival…

In 2004, the UDP engaged the Horizon Integrated Management and Allied Services, a consultancy firm, to implement business development services to Palo 19. The officers signified their interest in engaging in reviving the operations of the ‘Bagsakan’ center, using the barangay extension center, as the community storage for agricultural products.

To effectively manage the enterprise and provide its members with other benefits such as dividends and patronage refund, the association opted to convert itself into a cooperative. While it will retain its Vision, Mission, and Goals, it will adopt an organizational structure more appropriate to managing business enterprises, and will be guided by its community-formulated business plan and operations manual. It was like a rebirth of its goals.

Trading now will be with four priority crops: banana, gabi, ginger and tomatoes. These crops were identified based on the community’s production capabilities in relation to the prevailing market. Products will be supplied by the farmers, and sold to markets in the cities of Koronadal, Surallah, and General Santos.

To help sustain the trading enterprise and the production of the priority crops expansion of diversified farming among farmers was encouraged and eventually achieved.

The organization now as it processes its application to the Cooperative Development Authority, functions and operates like a cooperative, in preparation for its conversion. Because of increased community interest, its membership, as of December 2005, has increased from 70 to over 200.

Their efforts and plans now are generally focused on improving the quality and volume of products, and on enabling the organization to provide benefits (dividends and patronage refund) and other services to its members.

Significantly, the officers and members believe in the importance of focusing on their vision to stay committed, and united, as a way to address their day-to-day struggles, considering that up to now, the services rendered to the association are still voluntary coupled with the various doubts and intrigues attacking the initial operations of the enterprise.