MANILA, Philippines - They are mostly soft-spoken and low key. They would sheepishly smile and warmly greet visitors in their distinct Ibaloi accent. It may be modern times, but the women of Bokod, Benguet have not lost a trace of their rich tradition and cultural practices. It shows not only in how they relate to non-Igorot people, but mostly in how they carry themselves.
As they live in a landlocked province such as Benguet, surrounded by lush green mountains and valleys, agriculture plays a crucial role both as source of food and livelihood.
Their food consists of rice, vegetables, and meat. They seldom eat fish mainly due to the geographic location of the province which is almost entirely surrounded by land.
In Bokod, one of the largest municipalities in Benguet, farmers grow rice and vegetables, but mostly it is sweet potato (camote). Sweet potato has been named as the OTOP (OneTown One Product) of Bokod and its local government unit (LGU) has been supporting both its production and promotion.
In fact, their mayor had once shared in a trade fair how tourists are now becoming fond of their town’s native camote chips and and camote flour. A widely-cultivated variety of sweet potato is the Sampero.
Bokod has 10 barangays, one of which is Brgy. Pito where a group of a women-dominated Rural Improvement Club (RIC) is based.
They call themselves the “Indigent Camote Growers RIC” with 56 members, 52 of whom are women and only four are men who got into the club because their wives are members.
As the name implies, members grow sweet potato mostly for home consumption. The LGU is encouraging them to increase production for the processing of camote into chips and flour through the introduction of high-yielding varieties of sweet potatoes.
Currently, the local government has been collaborating with the Benguet State University towards this end.
RICs are rural or barangay-based organizations located all over the country with the aim of uplifting the living standard of its members and making them effective and productive partners of the government in community development.
It’s a joint initiative of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and LGUs to also encourage rural women to engage in livelihood ventures and to become self-reliant and skillful in entrepreneurship through trainings and seminars provided through various assistance projects.
Planting camote and raising native chicken
The two may not seem to jibe at first, but think again and one will find the link.
Josefa Sapdit, agricultural technologist of LGU-Bokod, agrees. “Naging complementary ang pagpo-produce ng camote at pag-aalaga ng manok. Here, they raise free-range chickens and farmers don’t usually buy feeds. They utilize what is available in their garden.
Aside from camote they also grow high value vegetable, which they feed to the chickens.”
The “Indigent Camote Growers RIC” was chosen as the beneficiary of a project, “Comparative Performance and Community-based Production of Native Chicken” implemented by DA-CAR Integrated Agricultural Research Center (CIARC) and funded by the Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR).
“Napili ang RIC na ito dahil sa kapuripuri nilang interest na mag-alaga ng native chicken. Agad silang nagpatayo ng manukan kaya madali silang nabigyan ng manok mula sa proyekto,” explained Sapdit.
She elaborated that, while the group is mostly composed of camote farmers, the LGU introduced raising native chicken to supplement their food requirement and serve as additional source of income for the members.
“We saw great potential in this project because for one, native chicken is easy to raise and manage. It’s a good source of protein since pork is expensive here. They are also assured that what they are eating is safe since they are the ones raising them and it is free from antibiotics,” shared Sapdit.
“In a way, raising native chicken has also become an education endeavor for the children as they themselves are learning. The farmer-cooperators have a sense of ownership in the project. They know that this is not a dole-out project of the government and so, they value what was given to them,” she added.
Experiencing the benefits
Of the 56 members of the RIC, 10 became farmer-beneficiaries of the project, six and four from batch 1 and 2, respectively. The first dispersal was in September 2012 wherein the first six members were given seven heads of native chicken (five hens, two roosters) each. Six months after, dispersal for the second batch was conducted for the four farmer-members of the RIC.
“We implemented the roll-over scheme wherein the 10 farmer-beneficiaries will have to escalate the numbers of chicken and they will be the one to disperse them to other farmer-members of the RIC,” explained Sapdit. Prior to the dispersal or distribution of native chicken, the farmer-beneficiaries attended a training and seminar on native chicken production to better equip them.
One of the 10 farmer-beneficiaries is Marcela Asim, 49. She is the current president of the RIC.
In an interview, she shared how the native chicken project was able to raise their level of productivity.
“Malaki ang naitulong sa amin ng proyektong ito dahil nga camote lang ang tinatanim namin, malaking tulong ang pag-aalaga ng manok bilang dagdag pagkain at kita sa mga miyembro.” She hopes that their RIC will be able to sustain the project and that the initial beneficiaries will be able to disperse to other members as well.
Another beneficiary is Mercedes Agwasil, 51. She was among the first batch that received the seven heads of native chicken in 2012.
That year, she reported that she was able to disperse to another member of the RIC.
“Maraming tulong ang mga manok na naibigay sa amin kasi naibenta rin namin yung iba at nagamit sa pangangailangan ng pamilya lalo na sa school ng mga bata,” she happily shared.
To sustain the project, all the first 10 farmer-beneficiaries were required to return seven heads of native chicken to other members of the association. “This will continue until every member has been given their initial stock,” explained Sapdit.
When asked for the success rate of their scheme, she said “Sa 10 na farmer-cooperators natin, may 80 percent ang naging matagumpay. Matagumpay kase nasunod nila yung pinagkasunduan sa proyekto na dapat nilang gawin which is yung redispersal to their co-members.”