Community project helps farmers, residents in Maguindanao

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines -  An agricultural facility in Pagalungan town that was built by the community has improved the  productivity of beneficiary-peasants and helped unite the once fragmented Moro families.

The two communal solar dryers, and a warehouse project along a highway in Barangay Galakit, Pagalungan were a joint venture of barangay folks, many of them active members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front,  and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Social Fund Project (ASFP).

The ASFP is the World Bank’s conduit for its projects in fledgling areas in ARMM.

The chairman of Barangay Galakit, Anwar Matalam, and the president of the local People’s Organization (PO), Badrodin Mamendig ,in the area, both said the communal solar dryer and grains storage facility built by local folks the “bayanihan way” reduced the expenses of farmers for drying dried rice and corn grains in commercial facilities previously.

“Reductions in the production overhead expenses of our farmers mean extra income for them,” said Mamendig, who readily admitted to his being member of the MILF.

There is an “add on” to the post harvest facility -- a barangay health station beside the grains warehouse, still being constructed by local folks and the ASFP, using funds from World Bank.

“Once completed, this health station will serve the farming communities here on a 24-hour basis,” government midwife Sofia Mangadad said.

Mamendig said the camaraderie of Barangay Galakit residents was bolstered by their direct participation in the construction of the two solar dryers and the grains warehouse.

“The local government unit of Pagalungan also extended utmost support to us when we constructed these facilities as a community project,” he said.

More than a hundred peasant families are now using the solar dryers in turns.

He said the PO collects very minimal payment for the use of the facilities to generate small savings for maintenance purposes.

Farmers in Barangay Galakit were quick to acknowledge how the post harvest facilities they constructed ushered in unity among them that even those locked in family feuds had reconciled as a result of their bayanihan implementation of the project.

“This project is amazing...” said Jocelyn Gurrion, a barangay health worker. - John Unson