Strip tease to progress

Upo in the shadows of progress…

One of the 19 barangays some eight kilometers away from the town center in Maitum. Estimated population is 1,640 comprising 98% lumads, particulary the T’boli, where only 43% are literate. It has a total land area of 2,430 hectares representing 7.5% of the total area of Maitum. The terrain is 18-30% hilly to moderate slope class and with at least 8-18% of rolling mountains. This barangay used to be marginalized due to the limited utilization of its agricultural land for productive purposes. Elders in the community describe the barangays during the early 90’s as very bare. It was also categorized as one of the poorest barangays of the town under the SRA-MBN survey of the local government. This situation was aggravated by the armed conflict between the government forces and the Moro National Liberation Front in 1999 that greatly affected the people in the barangay.

During this period, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources awarded farmers the stewardship of a total of 80 hectares under its integrated social forestry program. Recognizing the potential for abaca production in the area, the Fiber Industry Development Authority was commissioned to the barangay in 1998 to accelerate the growth and development of fiber industry. On the same year, FIDA has successfully organized 16 farmers. In 1999, 15 farmers signified interest to organize the Upo Valley Multi-Purpose Cooperative. However, the cooperative was not able to take off continuously due to the unstable peace and order in the area that affected the community due to the displacement of some families in 1999. For a time, the cooperative was inactive until 2003.

The greater the obstacles…

Upo is the third barangay covered by the UDP. It is one of the 19 barangays of Maitum.

In 2001, FIDA granted the Cooperative one unit abaca mobile stripping machine to facilitate the goals set in abaca enterprise. The UDP started operating in this barangay in 2002 where the upland barangay association was formed to facilitate and manage the implementation of various projects delivered to them.

The more glory in achieving it…

The use of abaca stripping machine enabled the cooperative to generate income out of the 20% share from the total volume processed. An initial amount of P1,200 pesos was used by the cooperative to start the abaca trading. With only four farmers selling their abaca fibers to the cooperative, the trading gradually expanded now absorbing 600 kilos of fibers from 65 abaca farmers. As of end of December 2005, the total purchases of abaca fibers is P112,000 pesos. This volume is however not sufficient for the cooperative to directly sell the fibers to Davao, and meantime, traders from Maitum come to the barangay to pick up the product.

Mang Perido’s struggle in the community…

Mang Perido Kusin, the manager of the cooperative, recalls that he would count his money out of the proceeds of his abaca fiber in front of many people in the barangay to motivate them to plant abaca in their farms. Though he is a respected member of the clan, convincing other farmers in the barangay to plant abaca did not happen overnight. He had to repeatedly talk and convince them to work and believe in the enterprise. He thought doing this needs his utmost commitment and sincerity to help the people in his community.

This happened almost three years ago, when the barangay had only few patches of abaca plants and only 4 farmers in the barangay used to sell abaca fibers...

Aside from abaca, farmers were also encouraged to plant bananas as one of the major sources of income for their daily needs. Farmers individually sell their products to traders who also come to the community weekly as another business opportunity given an additional capital for operation.

The rapid development process in the community can be attributed to its enabling environment, which can be detailed on the committed, sincere and respected cooperative leaders and officers, supportive local government units, efficient and collaborative efforts among key players and vast resources for productive use.

Success of the different efforts however, was not easy. The cooperative have to deal with the difficulties and challenges that came along the way, such as lack of funds among members to finance production inputs needed to maintain healthy crop stand, insufficient capital of the cooperative to expand the trading business, traditional practices and beliefs that slowed down application of new agricultural technologies, and low educational level of most members that might be difficult for leaders to turn-over or delegate responsibilities.