WHILE coronavirus disease (Covid-19) continues to spread and hit thousands of people especially in the metropolis, its ill effect on the livelihood traverses toward those even in the far-flung communities like that of Barangay Bago in Salvador Benedicto town.
Life was sweet for the residents belonging to over a hundred pineapple farming households living at the upland Sitio Alindahawan in the northern Negros Occidental locality.
The pandemic, however, suddenly turned it bitter, as restrictions on the movement of the people have also paralyzed the link between their produce and the buyers, and significantly pulled the demand for the agricultural product down.
Good thing, help came. A sweeter taste of hope has started to spark for these folk whose lives are attached to the pineapple crops they plant, grow and harvest.
The community
Two years ago, 127 pineapple farming households formally formed themselves as an organization called Bago Integrated Solar Farmers Association (Bisfa).
They were among the recipients of the Solar Homes System project of the Department of Energy (DOE), which has been sustained for seven years now.
Most of the member-households are part of indigenous peoples (IP) groups, the Ata and Bukidnon.
Agriculture, particularly farming, is their major means of living. They plant various crops, including rice, ginger, corn, and largely pineapples or Ananas comosus.
At least 1,500 hectares of the land area they till are devoted to pineapple production. They grow Hawaiian pineapples, a variety known for its sweetness.
Johnny Pargoso, president of Bisfa, told SunStar Bacolod that pineapple farming here is a promising livelihood.
Pargoso, who has been living in the sitio with his family for almost two decades now, said the high altitude and the quality of soil in the area are best suited for pineapple production.
However, their plantation is at least three kilometers far from the town proper where they should transport most of their products, bringing them to the "kumprador" or bulk buyers.
"The market was previously good, we had stable buyers," he said, adding that "the major problem we faced was just the difficulty to transport our products during rainy season."
Concrete road development has yet to reach the area. One has to endure a long-bumpy ride or hours of walking to reach the community.
The pandemic, however, made it harder for Pargoso and his fellow farmers. It disrupted their previously simple yet sweet lives.
Slump
The community restrictions imposed in the province in light of Covid-19 threat have seemingly toppled the farmers, their pineapples and their livelihood.
Pargoso said limitations on the mobility and the risk brought by the virus have affected the disposal of their produce to the market.
"Iban sa amon mga produkto gakaladunot nalang kay indi na madala sa merkado ukon manugbakal. Indi na mapuslan kay indi man namon mabaligya [Some of our products go to waste because it can't reach the market or buyers. We can't make use of it as we can no longer sell them]," he lamented.
Agreeing to this, town Mayor Marxlene dela Cruz said they noted over 50 percent drop in the demand for pineapples in the locality.
Dela Cruz said the pandemic really affected pineapple apple farmers not only in Bago but in all other pineapple-producing barangays in the locality as well.
"They [farmers] cannot easily transport the pineapples which are highly perishable crops. After three to seven days of just storing them, the quality and taste change," he said.
The mayor pointed out that lockdowns and stricter quarantine measures are making it hard for them to transport or ship pineapple products.
Aside from Negros Occidental, other markets for the town's pineapple products include Iloilo and other provinces in Panay Island, Dumaguete City in Negros Oriental and Cebu.
Records of the Municipal Government showed that there are currently at least 3,000 hectares of pineapple farms in Don Salvador Benedicto.
Being the number one producer of pineapple in the province, the town produces an average of 20 tons of pineapples per hectare or 60,000 tons annually.
At present, the number of pineapple farmers in the province's "Little Baguio" is pegged at about 500.
Dela Cruz said unlike rice, sugarcane, and corn, pineapple being a high-value crop has high income potential.
There's a demand that dictates a higher market price, dela Cruz said.
"But because of the pandemic, our pineapple sector has experienced a slump," he said, adding that farmers need to venture into other endeavors that are sustainable in order to cope with the impacts of the global health crises.
A timely project
Coming at the right time, a renewable energy (RE) project has been introduced to the community with the main objective of helping increase the income of pineapple farming households.
The DOE has partnered with the European Union-Access to Sustainable Energy Programme (EU-Asep) and Team Energy Foundation Inc. (Tefi) for the implementation of the Productive Use of Renewable Energy (Pure) Project.
Pure, which is the fourth pilot project of EU-Asep in the country in coordination with the DOE and the first in the Visayas, was turned over to Bisfa earlier this month.
Under which, the recipient association received a P3.5 million worth of facility composed mainly of a solar-powered decorticating machine that will be used by the member farmers in processing waste pineapple leaves into quality fiber.
Also, it is aimed at supporting the government's efforts to offer solutions towards increasing access to electricity, integrating RE on and off-grid, and promote energy efficiency.
Undersecretary for Renewable Energy Emmanuel Juaneza said the Pure Project was conceptualized as a supplemental project to the DOE's rural electrification program like the Households Electrification Project (HEP).
Juaneza said Pure was created to study possible supplementary sources of income through the use of RE technologies.
"It introduces a new economic activity in the region, particularly in the remote community of Sitio Alindahawan, providing a machine that processes pineapple leaves into export quality fiber," the official said.
The fourth Pure, he added, demonstrates pineapple fiber production as an efficient, sustainable, eco-friendly and economically viable community-based enterprise that will increase the farmers' income by at least 20 percent.
It is designed to help farmers in highly remote unelectrified areas by modernizing post-harvest processing and value-adding agricultural production.
Don Salvador Benedicto, particularly Barangay Bago, was identified as the recipient because it has the ideal location based on the criteria set by the EU-Asep.
The town is known as an agricultural area and the number one producer of pineapple in Negros Island which the agency and its partners decided to showcase.
How technology works
The EU-Asep and Tefi provided the funds for the procurement of the machine, which is traditionally run by petroleum-based fuels.
In this case, however, the system converts sunlight to electricity using solar modules and battery so it can operate even during cloudy and rainy days, EU-Asep Technical Expert Engineer Silver Navarro said.
"We need to strip off the pineapple leaves and make fiber out of it," Navarro said, explaining that "in order to run the decorticating machine, we have to use a 10-kilovolt ampere inverter to convert battery power to easy power."
The system also uses a variable speed drive to adjust the speed of the decorticating machine needed to ensure the fiber quality.
It is a simple step so the basic maintenance is just cleaning, Navarro said.
"For conventional decorticating machine, they are using seven horsepower but since we are using an electric motor, we are running a five horsepower electric motor," he added.
The solar power system uses nine units of 400 watts solar modules or a total of 4.05 kilowatt (kW) of solar panels.
The batteries are lithium iron batteries with a capacity of 2.4 kW hour. Having nine batteries, the machine can be operated for five days or more without sunlight.
In terms of production, Navarro said the recovery ratio is 2.5 percent so the machine can roughly produce one kilogram of fiber from 30 to 40 kilos of leaves.
It has the capacity to produce 10 kilos of fiber every day or at least 60 kilos in a week.
"It also depends on the skills of the workers," he said, adding that the system is designed for simple operation yet produces quality fiber.
Market, economy
After scraping the leaves, the fiber locally known as "lanot" should be washed with water to remove the green part then hang for drying.
For a start, four members of Bisfa were already trained on how to operate the machine and process the fiber.
To further ensure the quality of the fiber they produce, private sector group Ananas Annam plans to provide more training to the association members.
But aside from this assistance, Ananas Annam is also providing farmers a sure market as it will also serve as the buyer of the fiber product.
After bundling and weighing the fiber, the product will be picked up from the area going to Bacolod City for it to be transported to Manila.
Navarro said the group will purchase the non-woven fiber product at P390 per kilo then process it for export.
With an operating cost of P180, the association will generate a net income of P200 per kilo, the technical expert said.
"It will be contributing to the local economy at around P500,000 to P800,000 a year through the payment for the workers and purchase of the leaves," he said, adding that "so the farmers are now able to have an added income from the leaves that are just being thrown away before."
Aside from the farmers selling the leaves to their association, some of them will also work in the facility so there's also an added employment opportunity.
Aside from the fiber, another potential source of income is the compost or organic fertilizer converted from the waste produced by the machine during fiber production process.
Farmers can therefore utilize it in growing their pineapple crops, instead of buying costly chemical fertilizers.
Dela Cruz pointed out that the raw materials being processed into fiber are "waste leaves" and not the ones used as planting material.
"This will really help pineapple farmers fill in the gap of the income they lost during the pandemic," he said.
Some other groups have also expressed interest to source out raw fiber products from the association.
But in the meantime, Ananas Annam is the sole buyer of their product as it has already started helping the people in the community.
"Eventually, the town will be the province's top producer of pineapple fiber," the mayor said, as he expressed optimism to replicate the program among other pineapple communities in the locality.
Sustainability
For Tefi, the project will be successful if it is planned to be sustainable.
Its vice president Maria Theresa Lopez said the group's social concept is "power beyond electricity" as it strongly supports community empowerment and creation of productive communities to uplift lives.
Lopez said for it to be sustainable, there's a need for a workable setup and system for the business or a strong market for the product and services.
The project, she said, has a team, a multi-sectoral partnership, that was able to jumpstart the mindset and system for sustainability.
"The involvement and determination of the community, not just as a beneficiary but as partners, complete the equation of sustainability," Lopez added.
The Tefi official added that what makes the project unique, it is the first pure project with an environmental benefit.
Lopez said instead of throwing away pineapple leaves, the farmers are reducing waste by processing these leaves to become the useful raw piña fiber material that is very much in demand for export, especially for fashion.
"Thus, the decorticating machine is not just cost-effective but is eco-friendly too," she said, adding that "this supports the global environmental effort to reduce, reuse and recycle."
The National Renewable Energy Program (NREP) of the DOE focuses on the theme of energy security, sustainable development, climate change mitigation, community building and inclusive growth.
Juaneza said the agency has set a target of attaining at least 35 percent of RE in the power generation mix by 2030 and 50 percent by 2040.
"The mandatory policies on RE generation scale up the use of green energy not just for households but more importantly for preventive methods that will generate income to every households," he added.
Collaboration
For the implementers, Pure not only proves that this project is possible, but also demonstrates the power of collaboration among private sectors, national government agencies, local government unit, and the community.
The recipient association will operate and manage the machine, as well as the building that houses the system.
The Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco), which caters to electric consumers in Don Salvador Benedicto, will provide the necessary support for maintenance, repair, and troubleshooting of the equipment.
"We are happy to be part of a sustainable project that will impact positively the lives of the farmers in our area of coverage," its acting general manager lawyer Dan Pondevilla said.
Farmer-members will also be given technical training by the DOE and EU-Asep.
The Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority (Philfida) will also help the farmers especially in ensuring the quality of the fiber.
"I hope that this project will be sustained and properly managed as the people involved are now armed with the knowledge and technology on how to keep the project operational," DOE Visayas Field Office Director Russ Mark Gamallo said.
Another tangible support the municipal government is extending is "to keep the facility running, utilized and well maintained."
The mayor said, "If we see that the result is good for the farmers of Sitio Alindahawan, we will push for its replication in other pineapple farming communities in the town."
Aside from increasing at least 20 percent of the monthly income of pineapple farmers, the project's perceived impacts also include the creation of more economic activities in Barangay Bato and increase of economic potential from pineapple fiber production. EU's head of cooperation Christoph Wagner said fiber is an important export commodity of the Philippines.
"I am sure, with this project, the community will strive and earn more income. We hope to pilot similar programs in the future," he added.
Other interventions
Recognizing the need to further help the pineapple farmers cope with the pandemic, the Department of Agriculture (DA) is looking at providing the community with additional processing facilities for the fruits.
Engineer Jose Albert Barrogo, officer-in-charge technical director of DA-Western Visayas, said the association can engage in canning and drying of fruits and other by-products.
"Value-adding of fruits is another potential area that we can develop here," he said, adding that while other agencies are working on pineapple fiber production, the DA is looking at the opportunities from fruits and other by-products.
Barrogo said pineapple is a high value crop, and the major commodity of Don Salvador Benedicto.
The official said he already talked with the Municipal Agriculture Officer if the community can qualify with the funding under the Philippine Rural Development Program (PRDP).
"We are looking at the entire value chain development," he said, adding that "we just have to capacitate the farmers."
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), for its part, is also looking at providing other interventions to further help farmers develop their products.
Romel Amihan, officer-in-charge Division Chief of DTI-Negros Occidental, told SunStar Bacolod that they are proposing to provide shared service facilities (SSF) and skills training on pineapple processing.
Amihan said farmer-producers can be given entrepreneurial development and marketing seminars, as well as benchmark them with those in Aklan for pineapple weaving industry.
'Sweeter hope
For the people in Barangay Bago, particularly the 127 pineapple farming households of Sitio Alindahawan, a sweeter taste of hope has sparked in the community.
For a long time, Pargoso and his fellow farmers as well as their respective families have been living a life mainly dependent to pineapple, its fruits alone.
"We really did not know that the leaves can be converted to fiber," he shared.
They were shocked, Pargoso said, as these wastes were just being thrown away or used as animal feeds.
Before, farmers have to wait for several months for the fruits to be harvested before they can earn. With leaves processed to fiber, they now have an alternative daily source of income.
"Indeed, this sparks a sweeter hope for us, farmers, here in Alindahawan. The additional income opportunity would help us sustain our family's daily needs," Pargoso said.
"Also, it will help us, parents, in sending our children to school," he said, stressing that "more than just surviving this pandemic, this means securing our future already."
For 48-year-old Alma Abellana an additional livelihood is much needed for a farming family of nine children like hers.
Three of her children are still in school, some are helping them grow their farm.
Abellana said that for a long time, farmers like them have been suffering from low buying prices of their pineapples and other agricultural products. Most of the farmers in the area are selling their pineapple fruits at P8 per kilo, which is much lower than P20 to 25 per kilo price at the market.
"May mga kumprador na diri sa Barangay Bago pero barato ang baklanay. Ugaling wala man kami mahimo te sige nalang para lang may income. Kun indi namon pag-ibaligya, madunot lang ang pinya [there are buyers here in Barangay Bago but they are buying it at low prices. Unfortunately, we can do nothing but to sell so we can earn. If we will not sell them, the pineapple fruits will just be spoiled]," she lamented.
But like the solar power system installed in every household, the waste leaves to quality fiber production project is bringing new bright light to the family of Pargoso, Abellana, and that of their fellow pineapple farmers.
For them, the help extended by public and private institutions is like a seed of hope planted in a soil enriched by the "bayanihan" spirit manifested by strong partnership and collaboration.
As they vowed to protect and sustain the project, the association is optimistic that they will soon start reaping a sweeter harvest not just for its farmer-members but also for the entire pineapple farming community of Don Salvador Benedicto.