By Xyla Mercedita Gualberto
Tales tell of a quaint little town in the mountains of Bukidnon, where one of the world’s best-tasting coffee varieties grows. The town has a name, Barangay Miarayon in Talakag. Ironically, this place is haunted by poverty. The community’s coffee products are not readily accessible to buyers and visitors.
The community, however, does not lack the natural resources to use as raw materials for potential small-scale enterprises. Its high elevation and rich vegetation make it an ideal production area for coffee, carrots, calla lily and other crops.
Xavier Science Foundation (XSF) has a project supported by the US Embassy in Manila called Women Education for Cooperative Advancement and Rural Enterprise (WE CARE). The project has just graduated close to a hundred women from different cooperatives in the areas of Lanao del Norte and Bukidnon. In its second phase, it continues to help women start up their own businesses by utilizing local resources and engaging the greater community.
On August 13, XSF brought the awareness of WE CARE to the community in Miarayon during a K-12 senior high school orientation for the parents. Among the key features of the K-12 Senior High School Program are its Technology Livelihood Education and Technical-Vocational Livelihood, which includes agriculture.
The youth can now have access to technical knowledge and skills in crop production, organic agriculture and the like. These will complement the community’s sustainable livelihood plans through the women and youth sectors’ enterprises.
Thieza Verdijo of XSF provided a brief background of the project and showed a video of WE CARE-1’s learning experiences and success stories. Sustines Magallanes of the Payment for Ecosystem Services project talked about the importance of safeguarding the community by means of agroforestry and ecosystem protection.
Moreover, Edmond Del Castillo of Red Cherry Coffeehouse shared about Coffee Farming and Processing: Towards a Sustainable Community Development. He challenged the women to organize themselves into a cooperative, and work together in making the Miarayon coffee globally competitive.
A forum followed, where women and youth representatives asked a series of questions to the panel of speakers. They expressed their interest in the idea of a coop and the plans of holding a coffee festival in Miarayon in the near future.
Senator Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV who was also present that day talked about his major platforms – education, jobs-generation and business. He explained that each of these three largely contributes to a person’s development and standing in life. He said Filipinos are not known for their best knowledge in money. But it is one of his aims to see them equipped in making and handling money.
The senator, who is the former chairman of the National Youth Commission, also emphasized his interest in working with young people. He stated that he believes in the capacity of the youth to be in the forefront of working towards development through local community enterprises.
Opportunities continue to grow in Miarayon, with agriculture as a potential vehicle for inclusive growth.