By Noel T. Provido
While organized as vanguards against corn pests, these farmers are also gradually winning over another pest: their debts from non-formal lenders.
This is how 38-year-old Marina Gabe describes the San Antonio West Bantay Dangan Farmers’ Association (SAWBDFA) in Don Carlos, Bukidnon where she acts as the treasurer.
“Corn production is our main source of income but we often suffer from tremendous losses due to pests infestation,” she said.
“Good thing the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) through its integrated pests management program has introduced the natural and economic way of controlling corn pests,” Gabe said.
Thrichogramma, a biological control agent against corn borer and other insect pests. It is environment-friendly and more economical compared to chemical pesticides so farmers were able to cut production costs.
“The use of thrichogramma has significantly reduced pests infestation. Since then, we organized ourselves to promote the technology to other farmers which paved the way for the birth of SAWBDFA,” Gabe recounted.
However, the battle for low productivity in corn farming does not end withtrichogramma. Corn production is capital intensive and lack of financing to start up farming remains a challenge. Leaving with no option, farmers resort to non-formal lenders despite their unfair financial arrangements.
“Most of these non-formal lenders are traders who require farmers to sell produce only to their stores. This tied-up farmers with cheaper price and lesser profit which usually not enough to finance the next cropping,” Gabe said.
“Such situation results to vicious cycle of paying to and borrowing from traders whom we owe money to finance corn production,” said 29-year-old Jovelyn Tuson, the association’s secretary.
Tuson said the debt they regularly incurred had been bothering farmers and limits their capacity to expand, as it would mean more debts with huge interest.
“Some would even limit their expenses on food just to save money to catch up with the high interest rates of the money they had borrow to finance their farming activities,” she said.
Their break came when they availed themselves of funds from the Mindanao Rural Development Program (MRDP), a long-term poverty alleviation program under DA. Through the program’s Community Fund for Agricultural Development (CFAD) the group accessed P250, 000 of which they use to provide assistance to start-up corn production of financially handicapped members.
