While the municipality of Kabayan at the central-eastern section of Benguet continues to boom with its majestic tourist attractions – centuries-old mummies and heavily-forested area, its Eddet Farmers Indigenous Peoples Association (EFIPA) is silently taking root and gradually growing and expanding its membership base.

From 75 members in 2015, the association now has 302 and growing. Its goals then was to provide additional livelihood activities for Eddet farmers through an association.

According to EFIPA president Margie Felix, they organized the association when they heard about a livelihood opportunity under the Department of Agriculture’s Philippine Rural Development Project (DA-PRDP).

“The association was organized with the purpose of getting a livelihood project hence, our  enterprise project which aims to support our members through hog raising as an additional source of income,” Felix said.

As they have continuously implemented their hog raising enterprise for two years, more of their members have raised and sold pigs cycle after cycle. Felix said that the demand for pigs, especially during social gatherings like weddings and other community festivities has urged EFIPA to venture in hog raising.

Challenges as an opening of a new opportunity

In the last quarter of 2019, the outbreak of the African Swine Fever (ASF) has challenged EFIPA’s hog raising enterprise operations. As they began to strategize how they can prevent ASF in their community, a global health crisis (Coronavirus 2019) occurred and quarantine restrictions were enforced.

“We were not allowed to purchase piglets outside the municipality due to the ASF and mobility and transportation has become limited which has greatly affected our livelihoods,” Felix said.

Using a chunk of their enterprise funds, they ventured into vegetable consolidation and marketing with an end-goal of helping the farmers in Eddet market their vegetable harvests.

With the initiatives of the association’s members and assistance from the local government of Kabayan, EFIPA was able to solicit help from the DA for marketing assistance.

“We wanted to help our fellow farmers and so we reached-out to the DA through the local government of Kabayan,” said Felix, as she narrated how the members of EFIPA would work until midnight to sort and pack vegetable produce brought in by farmers within barangay Eddet and from its neighboring barangays, in time for its scheduled delivery.

More intervention

On May 2020, EFIPA was able to transact its first marketing deal through the DA’s Kadiwa ni Ani at Kita program. A total of 10 thousand kilograms of assorted vegetables were delivered to Cavite. One buyer led to another which meant more sorting and more packing for EFIPA members, but more profits.

“Word began to spread about our marketing enterprise as we carried on with our vegetable consolidation and marketing venture,” Felix relished the moment, as she said that members’ engagement increased and new members joined our association.

Since then, EFIPA was able to partner with non-government organizations such as Rural Rising PH and SPECS Foundation and other individual buyers as well, wherein they make deliveries of two to eight tons of assorted vegetables every one to two weeks.

In 2018, EFIPA implemented their hog raising enterprise. The DA-PRDP helped EFIPA provide additional source of income for its members through hog raising. Two years later, vegetable consolidation and marketing was integrated as part of the association’s services.

“We are now on the process of registering our association to a multi-purpose cooperative so that we can provide more services and benefits to our members,” added Felix.

Interventions were not confined to DA alone since other agencies/organizations are now extending help to EFIPA through the provision of scholarship grants among others.

“With combined efforts through the DA programs and the LGU, we steered them towards agri-entrepreneurial development,” said Jocelyn W. Beray, I-REAP component head of the PRDP Regional Project Coordination Office – CAR (RPCO-CAR).

Beray further said that the association is eligible to propose another enterprise subproject for funding under the PRDP’s second additional financing this 2021.

“Chi PRDP, DA region tan munisipyo ni Kabayan, nakmanyamannitulong jo niya association mi ni EFIPA. Echahelintulongjo son sikamija ebadegeya livelihood ja in-ahan jo sonsikamieran farmers.Ketniman, at least wara eh gain mi jeninusal mi nipamilja mi ketagyaman kami (to the PRDP, DA region as a whole, and to the municipal LGU of Kabayan, I am very grateful to the assistance you have given to EFIPA. The livelihood assistance you have provided to us farmers is a big help to sustain our family’s expenses),” expressed Felix. ### ELVY S. TAQUIO (DA-PRDP RPCO-CAR)