Friday, March 16, 2007 Project increases farmers’ income
THE town of Ubay, in Bohol Province, is blessed with many resources — a land area of 20,755 hectares (the second largest in the province), a thriving seaport and a lively business climate, among others.
What many do not know, however, is that some parts of the municipality are parched.
The painful irony is that parched barangays in this town, located about 124 kilometers northeast of Tagbilaran City, are agricultural areas.
This is perhaps the main reason that despite its being a first class municipality, Ubay has been listed among the towns with high poverty incidence by the Provincial Government and in the poverty mapping conducted by the Peace and Equity Foundation (PEF) Inc., a non-stock, non-profit organization that helps projects on poverty alleviation and community development.
But the Ubay Dairy Multi-Purpose Cooperative (Udamco), a group of farming families in the town, saw opportunities where others see only odds.
Structures
Udamco, in partnership with the Ubay Municipal Government under the Ubay Partnership for Health, Enterprise and Livelihood Development (Upheld), applied for assistance from the PEF to build small water impounding structures in water-starved areas — Ba-rangays Camambugan, Villa Teresita, Gov. Boyles and Tipolo — and other related projects.
The small water impounding structures, which look more like human-made lakes, are designed to catch and contain rainwater that farmers use to irrigate their rice paddies.
PEF provided a grant of P1,587,753 for the Ubay Small Water Impounding Project (Swip), which includes the construction of 20 water impounding structures.
Esteban Bernales, chairman of Udamco, said farmer-beneficiaries of the SWIP were able to engage in several activities to augment their income and food supply.
Benjamin Bernales, who works with the Municipal Government in the implementation of Upheld, said the local government provided additional assistance to enable Swip farmer-beneficiaries to raise tilapia during the rainy season and grow various vegetables near their rice fields.
Upon the encouragement of the local government, some farmers engaged in duck raising to tap the large demand in Ubay for ducks’ embryo (balut).
Year-round
Esteban said farmer-beneficiaries now have income year-round. A total of 850 farmers belonging to 142 households were served by the project.
Before the construction of the water impounding structures, farmers were only able to plant rice and harvest once a year because they relied solely on rain to water their crops.
Esteban said a one hectare ricefield can produce about 40 cavans (about 1,600 kilos).
But very few farmers have one hectare to till so many families see their rice supply depleted before the next harvest, he said. This is why Udamco sought funding for SWIP, he added.
With the help of the Municipal Government, Udamco members also began raising carabaos for milk and related products.
Women members produce milk soap and other delicacies made of carabao milk. “Kung maningkamot lang, ma-arang arang gyud ang atong pagkabutang,” said Esteban. (If we only work hard, our living conditions will definitely improve. (PR)
