NGO Lifts Livelihood While Preserving Palawan’s Allure

PALAWAN, Philippines — Northern Palawan farmers whose only source of income was slash-and-burn agriculture that nets them 10 cavans of rice for each hectare annually now have a new livelihood, thanks to a non-government organization (NGO) led by a UP Los Banos graduate who never thought he would stay for keeps in the country’s last frontier.

Change dawned upon eight communities in 2001, when farmers shifted from swidden agriculture and dabbled in a new technology— drying herbs and transforming them into powder for medical preparations.

They no longer burn cogon and other weeds to pave the way for the cultivation of palay, which nets them P300 per cavan, or a measly P3,000 from 10 cavans harvested from their kaingin every year. A farmer with a family of six members has to burn at least 5 hectares of land to produce between 50 cavans and 55 cavans of palay annually.

Palawan Center for Appropriate Rural Technology (PCART)

Lawrence Padilla graduated with a degree in horticulture from the University of the Philippines- Los Baños (UPLB). Originally from Pangasinan, Padilla set foot in Palawan in 1985 as part of a college barkada adventure, but the visit led him to think about ways to wean away poor farmers from the environmentally debilitating effects of swidden agriculture, which requires tillers to shift their farms to allow the fields to lie fallow.

Padilla spearheaded the formation of the Palawan Center for Appropriate Rural Technology (PCART), an NGOn that utilizes technology to help local residents improve their lives.

PCART’s first project was to address the problem of potable water supply in Palawan, which had long been hobbled by malaria infestation.

Employing the water-jet method technology for easier access to potable water, Padilla “Yung pinaka-una yung pagpasok ng pipe sa lupa para makakuha ng tubig. Dati rati hirap na hirap kasi bubutasan talaga ng malaki. Ngayon, sa pamamagitan ng tubig, pag pressurized yung tubig, mas madali bumutas ng lupa.” (”The hardest part is the insertion of the water pipe into the soil. It used to be hard since you have to dig holes. With pressurized water, it is now easy to dig to the water source.”) Tanks were also brought in to store water for the use of community residents.

PCART concentrated on developing Northern Palawan, particularly the towns of Dumaran and parts of Roxas. The group also started offering loans to purchase carabaos. At least 800 to 900 families benefited from the credit scheme.

Padilla thanks two European NGOs for financing the two projects. The Bread for the World of Germany and Helvetas of Switzerland collaborated with PCART to finance the two projects.

Spices or Herbs?

However, the funds pipeline would not last forever and PCART was saddled with a problem in 1999, when Helvetas said it would leave the Philippines in 2001.

PCART was compelled to go into business to finance its work in Northern Palawan, and Helvetas suggested that whatever line of business it is, it must be consistent with the work in the communities, Padilla recalled.

Only two lines were open for the eight communities of Northern Palawan. One was to cultivate spices and the other was to produce powdered herbs.

PCART opted for powdered herbs since Sen. Juan Flavier, a former health secretary, had been advocating the use of herbals as alternative medicine.

“Ang laki ng potential ng herbals kasi sa Pilipinas, isa tayo sa mga bansa na napaka-diverse ng gubat. Mapapababa nito ang presyo ng gamot (The potential of herbals in the country is great since we are one of the few countries that have good biodiversity. We can reduce the prices of medicines),” Padilla says.

Enriching communities through herb driers

PCART developed its own drier for powdered herbs. It was a technology that addressed the need to dry herbals two hours after harvest to preserve their freshness.

Each community eventually had a drier to quicken the process and ensure the quality of the powder.

“Kapag inani ang herbals within 2 hours dapat ma-dry or tutubuan na yan ng amag at hindi na maibebenta,” (Once herbals are harvested, they have to be dried within two hours otherwise it would have molds and could no longer be sold),” he says.

PCART communities first tried drying lagundi- an herbal plant for cough. Then it diversified into drying sambong (for kidney stones), pandan leaves (tea), lemongrass (tea), sinta (analgesic), cat’s whiskers (kidney) and takip kuhol (wound healing, alter aging, memory enhancer).

However, the most viable commodity proved to be lagundi. Each community plants at least one or two herbal plants. Farmers’ income has improved significantly since the introduction of the driers, Padilla adds.