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News VOL. 2, No. 91
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A member of the United Urban Poor Vegetable Farmers Association Inc. tends to the cattle he benefited from the cattle dispersal project along with organic
Saturday-Sunday
September 1-2, 2012
vegetable production while Ruwina Daling member of the United Urban Poor Vegetable Farmers Association Inc. shows off one of the hanging squash one of the
P10.00
few she planted to her garden of 12 plots which she harvest from twice a week. PHOTOS BY SHERWIN B . MANUAL
MRDP helps ex-rebels build green community T By SHERWIN B. MANUAL
HE town of Salay in Misamis Oriental, known in the past as the stronghold of the New People’s Army (NPA), has offered rebel returnees greener pasture with cattle and vegetables.
“We plant organic vegetables, we care for our cattle and we earn a decent living,” said Ruwena S. Daling bookkeeper of United Urban Poor Vegetable Farmers Association Incorporated. But Daling, 50, a mother of four said it was a different story years ago. “We had nothing. Most of our members were rebel returnees. We have no land to till; we had no viable source of income,” she said. Their organization of 18 members was organized way back in 2008 through a government project but never really prospered. “We have already started our gardening projects way back then but it was very small we cannot even sell them. We also long to have cattle because it will expectedly give us bigger income,” Daling said. Luckily, in early 2009 their baEsmeraldo Daling member of the United Urban Poor Vegetable Farmers Association Inc. harvests his petchay rangay captain and now vice mayor Angelo Capistrano, Jr. lobbied for plants ready to be sold to local traders. their endorsement in the Department PHOTO BY SHERIN B . MANUAL
of Agriculture’s Mindanao Rural Development Program (DA-MRDP) for which they were awarded P250,000.00 for their proposed organic vegetable production and cattle dispersal projects. Moreover, the government-owned lot measuring about 1.25 hectares in barangay Poblacion, Hanil Purok 7 was also lent to them to be cultivated. MRDP is DA’s unique antipoverty program for Mindanao funded by World Bank and the counterpart of the national and local government units (LGUs). Under the program’s Community Fund for Agricultural Development (CFAD), the livelihood component, the PO beneficiary with the assistance of the LGU, manages their own project and funds from the project identification, procurement and all other aspects of project implementation including its sustainability measures. “It all came together, the program made us capable. We really felt the
government’s assistance and support to our needs both at the local and national level for which we are very thankful,” Daling said. “We used the money to buy nine heads of cattle, vegetable seeds, organic fertilizer, and other farm inputs amounting to a total of P223,000.00 while the rest of the money was deposited in the bank as part of our mobilization and administrative funds,” she added. The cattle were distributed through drawing of lots. Once the cattle produces offspring, the mother cow will be given to the next-in-line beneficiary. “As of now, at least five cows have borne offspring,” Daling said. While waiting for the income from the cattle dispersal, Daling said their organic vegetable gardens have helped them raise incomes, support their family’s basic needs and keep a healthy body. “We plant organic vegetables GREEN/PAGE 9