When people decide to help themselves, the defining glory of development sparks and shines. Their pooled power can surely precipitate change in their lives.

Such is the case in Buadiposo, Buntong in Lanao del Sur when TCP 4 2007 training graduates formed the Bamboo Landers’ Movement (BLM), a service-oriented group devoted to helping the farming community in Buadiposo. They maintain a seedling nursery, vermicompost, and sell products for organic farming.

The BLM nursery

 “We want to help ourselves and other members of our community,” said Palawan Akoon, 29, one of the leaders of the group.

In the nursery, they plant sitao, pechay, okra, and other vegetables. Per harvest, they have a net income of P25,000 each from pechay and okra, their bestsellers. They sell seeds to farmers in nearby barangays Sugod and Marantao.

“Our seeds go far, because we sell only high-quality seeds,” said Akoon.

Other farmer-members related that their customers now are mostly from referrals. They also started from individually asking people to buy their produce. Now, they get reservations even before harvest. They gave away their contact numbers to facilitate orders.

New networks, products

It didn’t take long before their efforts got noticed by the Al-Mujadilah Development Foundation (AMDF), a non-governmental organization based in Lanao del Sur working on rural development. AMDF linked BLM to another NGO, Tacdrup, based in Davao City an. Tacdrup sponsored trainings on indigenous microorganisms, which BLM is selling now.

Fermented plant juice (FPJ), caphos, ornamental and organic herbal nutrients, and fermented amino acid are some of the indigenous microorganism products of BLM. These are either from food wastes like fish bones, vegetables, or spices.

The processes are very simple and are more or less the same: chop, mix, store, transfer to container, and voila! The product is ready to be sold. FPJ, for instance is sold at P100 per 1-liter bottle.

Growing

BLM has written manuals in the Maranao language to guide their customers on how to use their products. They are presently looking for funding agencies to help them expand their operations. Their members are likewise eager to attend trainings to update their farming knowledge. As of this writing, they are preparing their organization’s papers for registration as they believe that through it, fund sourcing and networking with other organizations will be easy.

Akoon said that the good thing about their members is that they also have their own vegetable gardens in their backyards. They have all imbibed the lessons in their farmers field school— that they should always have ready access to food that they themselves produce.

Jamil Amer, the agricultural promotion officer who was assigned in the area, maintains his ties with the people in the community. He said that he still receives text messages from them asking if there are updates on rice production that they need to know. For Jamil, what happened in Buadiposo is fulfilling as the farmers now are taking the initiative to take a step further using what they learned from TCP 4.