Disaster Response Philippines Project #15860

Food, Water & Energy for Haiyan Affected Areas

by Sibol ng Agham at Teknolohiya (SIBAT), Inc.

Project Report | Jul 28, 2016
Expanding the Enterprise Venture

By Shen Maglinte | Deputy Director

TOFA members pose with their products

Promotions In the Works

We are happy to note that in the previous report, the community is sustaining the momentum of the enterprise. Currently, TOFA is consolidating its venture especially the continued operation of the Store and Food House and reaching out to other members of the community to participate in the organizational activities as regards herbal processing food production and livestock raising.

Currently, the TOFA Store and Food House has slowly gained an increased number of patronizers of herbal products and organic food menu in the eatery. Key officers of the store food house mentioned that aside from them directly promoting the store and products to local government offices and schools, the consumers themselves through word of mouth began informing family members and acquaintances to check out TOFA store for product displays and offers.

Consumers who visited the store also get a chance to learn about basic health care as the women tending the store provide “on-the-spot” advisories on alternative health care approaches. This is limited though on topics associated with the herbal products they have processed and are selling where they undertook basic orientation course from Community-based Health Program Services (CBHPs) which SIBAT partnered in developing the knowledge and skills of TOFA members.

Aside from that, TOFA members also shared to customers their food production activities particularly organic vegetable raising. They shared the story of how they were able to cope with additional food supply by developing small parcels of backyard lots and communal production areas to produce short term crops that enabled them to have food access even while Yoland rehabilitation work was going on. This way customers get to understand that rebuilding their lives also necessitates their willingness to help themselves and cooperate with organizations and agencies extending assistance aside from just being passive beneficiaries of relief help. This somehow help create a mindset that post-disaster recovery is not only the sole responsibility of government or external agencies but importantly by the victims themselves.

Increasing Product Lines

TOFA continuous to develop and produce beauty and health products. Among the herbal products that gained popularity among consumers included turmeric capsules, dried moringa leaves, capsulized mangoosten fruits, virgin coconut oil, rice coffee, and herbal drinks. Turmeric capsules are still the top seller , but due to longer drought production decreased though to just 1,000 capsules a month compared to 2,500 capsules monthly. Still the capsules are sold at U$0.30 per pack of 10 capsules. Powdered Moringga production remains at 2,000 capsules per month as the tree is can thrive well even during dry periods. These are still sold at U$.40 per pack of 10 capsules.

In earlier report, the women are refining the processing of ginger teas and ginger candy. Recently, they are doing commercial test run of the products and are still monitoring consumer acceptance.

They now also have some types of herbal tonic made from lemon grass, citronella and other nutritional herbs combined to produce herbal drinks as a form of supplement to boost body stamina and immune system. They are now also on display at the TOFA store.

They also maintained production of beauty products such as soaps made of papaya extract, cucumber, radish, carrots. Guava fruit extract has been experimented but due to limited supply, production is limited compared to the ones made of radish , “kamias” cucumber and papaya due to the abundance of supply in the area.

It is interesting to note likewise that some coconut trees not totally felled off during the storm have recovered sooner than expected. TOFA members are planning to optimize the early rejuvenation of these trees to develop their coconut virgin oil processing further.

Need for Bureau of Food and Drug Administration (BFAD) Registration

The TOFA members are aware that in order to scale up and mainstream their products to commercial outlet later on, these have to pass the stringent evaluation of the Bureau of Food and Drug Administration. But for now, being in the developing stage, the community has been allowed to sell the products having been noted to have used basic vegetable-based ingredients that they themselves produced without a mix of any prohibited substances. For now TOFA will just cater to local consumers and will have to defer meantime application for BFAD registration also due to the stringent requirements and cost which they could not afford at present situation.

Preparing for the Typhoon Months

As of this writing, the country is into the wet season and typhoon months. We do hope and pray that no virulent storms would strike the country to save the communities from another catastrophic event.

As regards ensuring food after disaster, the community has learned its lesson and have come to know that root crops are best suited to withstand floods, winds and heavy rains and come handy after the storm as ready available food source.

Hence, at the onset of the rainy season, the communities continue to sustain planting various types of sweet potates, yam, and cassava. They are maximizing the demonstration farms this planting season by intensifying root crop production like sweet potatoes and yam. They are still targeting to produce 15-20 sacks of these as food buffers among members and those who will be in need when there’s food shortage in the event that storm disasters happen.

Biofertilizer

To sustain production in demonstration and individual gardens, the community also sustained their own stock of organic fertilizers. The venture also is a source of income for the organization as members themselves patronize the produce as primary consumers. These are sold to members at 5-10 pesos a kilo. For large volume users, per sack is sold at P90.00 which is still very affordable compared to hazardous chemical fertilizers that are also very expensive and way beyond the purchasing capacities of farmers.

Happy Hog and Chicken Raisers

The small capital loans to raise poultry, goat and swine as complementary livelihood activities to about 23 women and 24 men combined earlier made them happy hog and chicken raisers. Some already sold eggs from the chicken just at their locality and the hogs are adapting well to alternative management utilizing a combination of commercial and local feeds.

The only limitation though, is that loan support is inadequate to extend to other members who wanted to venture into livestock raising. Some members are extending stock materials at least for chicken for others who are willing to undertake livestock growing in the absence of loan. This is a process that has still to be firmed up as a policy that TOFA has yet to discuss about.

The community also is preparing for some measures how to safe keep the animals when typhoon occurs. This is part of their disaster preparation to avert losses especially that capital fund are uncured as loans.

Road to Resiliency

With this development, SIBAT observed that the seeds of self reliance and adoptive capacity has been imbibed slowly by the community despite the difficulties they encountered. At least this marks a significant step on the way how people should act and respond to calamities (noting Leyte lies within the typhoon corridor of the Philippines). For certain they may need for enabling assistance as they continue to nurture the organizational cooperation that help them made some strides in standing up once more after Yolanda and hopefully maintain their resiliency no matter how difficult it would be in some instance in the future . SIBAT is again grateful for partnership support extended especially from Global Giving to extend such support and to be part of the effort of building back better and helping communities recover after devastation.

customer buying herbal products at the store

TOFA members after store meeting

TOFA communal farm

consumers at the store

customers eating organic food at the food house

organic vegetables sold at TOFA store

hog raising

biofertilizer production

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Apr 18, 2016
Keeping Up the Enterprise Momentum

By Shen Maglinte | Deputy Director

A woman farmer tending to her poultry

We’re glad to share that the community has stepped up in maintaining their production to enterprise activities in the past months. In the last report, the community ventured into enterprise development with capital incentives provided to expand activities on herbal crop processing, continued operation of the TOFA Store and Food House and starting to raise poultry, and livestock particularly swine and goat.

Timely for Drought

The Philippines is currently grueling from El Nino – agricultural land is drying up and parched, threatening food supply which is happening in some parts of the country. The demonstration farms developed in our areas grew root crops in the past months including other fruit bearing and leafy vegetables. It has become a buffer source now of food supplements in most households as root crops can withstand prolonged dry periods and can still fully grow . Various types of sweet potates, yam, and cassava are going to be harvested this month . It is expected that the demonstration farms will yield about 10-15 sacks of sweet potatoes, 3 sacks of yam. By May, hopefully at the onset to of the rainy season, cassava crops will be ready for harvest. It is expected tha t the crops will produce about 10 sacks.

The community’s priority is to share the produce among organizational members, processed about a third into yam cakes and sweet potato chips to be sold at the TOFA Store and Food House. aside from directly eating the raw produce. At the rate that the drought is going, the production plan is to replenish immediately the harvest so that the supply will be sustained. Despite the vagaries of climate change, we are still hoping the rains will start pouring by May or June which is the start of the wet season in the Philippines .

TOFA Organic Store and Food House Picking Up

The collectively operated Organic Store and Food House is still picking up as regards regular patrons particularly for its food section. Low productivity due to the long dry spell limited a wide variety of vegetable-based menus to offer . Nevertheless, information about the existence of the store and food house is gaining ground within the municipal centers. Employees from the local government agencies, church, schools started to be regular customers and have placed orders for certain type of vegetables and herbal products.

To date, among the post-harvest produced, the herbal and cosmetic products have increased demands. Turmeric capsules are best sellers with the women producing 2,500 capsules in month to cope up with the demand. They are selling the capsules at U$0.30 per pack of 10 capsules. Highly in demand likewise is powdered Moringga sold at U$.40 per pack of 10 capsules. The women are expanding to other products. They are now polishing ginger teas and ginger candy as well as mangosteen powder.

The cosmetic products best sellers are the vegetable based soap . The women are combining different herbs to produce specific type of soap for various skin toning needs. Among the herbs used are turmeric, madre de cacao, moringga, lemon grass laced with the flower local know as Ylang-ylang with its inherit aromatic element used by one of the leading international perfume brand. The soap sells at US$ .20 to .30 a piece with the one blended with Ylang-ylang flower at close to a dollar a piece. Many women and a couple of men users feel secure as regards the organic herbal ingredients utilized. In the last two months, the women have produced already 1,000 pieces of soap. Currently, there are about 65 women involved in the collective production of the soap. In the pipeline as regards product development, the women are now experimenting on the use of papaya and a green succulent sour fruit called “kamias” as another organic soap type.

Organic Poultry and Livestock Jumpstart

It was mentioned in the last report that the communities are provided small capital loans to raise poultry, goat and swine as complementary livelihood activities. About 23 women and 24 men combined availed of the cash loan incentives to jumpstart livestock raising. To date the initial stocks particularly for poultry are growing healthy in backyard set ups of the households. They are semi-free ranged and fed with farm waste residues, stripped cassava and sweet potato from the demonstration collective gardens. Swines are fed with cooked yam leaves, mixed with papaya leaves and rice hulls from adjacent barangays. Only a small amount of booster feeds are mixed to provide nutritional balance to the protein and other mineral requirements of the swine.

Build Up of Management Skills and Organizational Cohesion

The progress of the production, post-harvest activities within a social enterprise framework will fall short without the capacity building support like skills enhancement in managing the activities, a little financial management skills helps the community manage revenues as well. Most important, strengthening their organizational unity through leadership trainings, regular assessment and planning adjustments builds community camaraderie and provides the element of support systems necessary for them as whole to face the challenges. It is worth noting that reeling off from the disaster and coming to a point where recovery is evident is partly due to the community committing themselves to do their part in picking themselves up from the rubbles of the disaster.

For SIBAT, we deemed the time is just about ripe to turn over the reigns of sustaining the initiatives they have started and we’re just glad we were there together with GlobalGiving partners giving the needed shot in the arm for them to stand up back to normalcy.

Typical backyard poultry through soft loans

women farmers tending to their demonstratin farm

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Jan 12, 2016
Moving Up To Enterprise: Capital Incentive's Promise

By Shen Maglinte | Deputy Director

sign of the newly opened store outlet

Opening The Community Organic Store and Food House

Before the year ends, the community finally ventured into opening a store outlet as they moved from production to marketing. Slowly, the community members continued to sustain the gains they have achieved in food production, herbal processing and currently moved to sell their produce on a regular basis. In our last report, the community members trained and learned the ropes of herbal processing, making linaments, ointments and herbal soaps. Organic vegetable and and fruit products such as cucumber, moringa, carrots, guavas, turnips, papaya were experimented as substrates for soap making. Local consumers were satisfied with the results of the moisturizing effect of the soap. With the growing number of consumers in the locality, the community decided to open their modest store selling organic products like vegetables, fruits and processed herbal products. Aside from displays of organic produce, the store also serves as organic food eatery utilizing ingredients from the produce of the farmers, an effort being pursued by farmers who belabored on acquiring sills on sustainable food production and eventually moving to processing and marketing.

Expansion of Demonstration Farm

To maintain supply the pilot communities of Brgys San Roque, Quilao and Cantariwis in Tolosa Leyte continue to improve their organic vegetable production primarily for food and to create surplus for the market. Crops planted continued to be diversified that included various root crops, corn, herbal crops, moringga, ladies fingers, lemon grass, In addition, their communal farm was expanded to 2 hectares now established in Brgy. San Roque also established a small training center for meetings and sustainable agriculture education. A set of policies and management structure were also established so that labor force and management will be shared among members and crop production always maintained. Currently, about 15 members of the Vegetables Growers Association (VGA) is taking turns daily working on the demonstration farm.

Upcoming Addditional Farm Enterprises

Currently preparations are underway for the community members to establish their livestock component composed of poultry and hogs to be maintained both at the communal and individual members. A main component to be developed fully is organic seed production as part of the community achieving self-reliance on seed sources and to maintain food production by having seedsstocks especially fast growing vegetables. That after the typhoon's aftermath, the community can already plant short term vegetable crops that could be harvested in a few days to provide food supplements when food relief are slow in coming or will no longer be available days after the disaster. This is one of the basic disaster preparedness features that the community is taking on with their acquired skills on organic food production in relation to onsets of typhoons. They have established a policy that for every gram of seeds given, farmer-members will return another gram to the organization to be distributed to other members.

Aside from collective food production and communal food stock storage from the demonstration farm, the Tolosa Organic Farmer Association promoted backyard vegetable production so that organization members will have regular food supply on normal days and in preparation as well when storms strike. This will give members some back up supply in case of emergencies.

Soft Loan Incentives

To encourage members to sustain production, TOFA organized incentive support to members through soft loan provisions. They plan to loan out P 500 ( US$ 10) to each members to process organic produce into delicacies or confectionaires for the market aside from selling their vegetable produce. With a 1% interest, the amount is not so burdensome to members. This will be given to initial beneficiaries selected or 10 members of each of the three barangays of (San Roque, Cantawiris and Quilao). Repayment collected wil be loaned out to other members for expansion. Aside from vegetables, the community also planned to loan out P 3,000 pesos (US$ 60) to the first 10 members also of each barangay for hog raising. This is meant to provide the community members with opportunties for income. It is expected that this will be implemented in the first quarter of this year.

Some Feedback

Edralin the Treasurer of the Enterprise endeavor of the organization is glad that finally they were able to be given soft loans with an affordable interest rate for capital of an enterprise that could add income to the family...

Arlyn assigned as Business Manager of the community's enterprise is thankful for the capital support given by the program...that aside from relief they were given the chance to stand on their own feet as part of the long term rehabilitation effort appropriate to their situation

Kuya Willy expressed gratitude that SIBAT's support was sustained and did not stop after Haiyan's relief work especially the training and technical advisories which they still need until they have the confidence to continue these on their own

Despite these, SIBAT still see the need to strenghten the members capacity to manage and lead these intiatives for them to be able to stand on their own feet and minimize their vulnerabilities when similar disaster hit their communties in the future.

members attending the opening of the store

the modest training center at the demofarm

women harvesting crops at the demofarm

farmer members inspecting their crops on sale

farmers meeting at their training center

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