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Grant Application Form
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BATANGASWOMEN INITIATED FARM PRODUCTIVITY
The barangay
(neighborhood district) of Caylaway in Nasugbu, Batangas is
a poor, tenant community of some 5,500
men, women and children. The
primary source of income is from small farms. Although
the men of the community have organized a farmers
association, agricultural practices as well as individual and
collective productivity remain at low levels.
The wives
and mothers of Caylaway, therefore, also organized themselves in Their association, the Samahan ng Makabayang
Kababaihan sa Batangas, is comprised of 50 women whose poor families encompass some 150 dependent children between the ages of one
and 15, all of who are poor and will
benefit from the work of the women's association. In
2004, the
Filipino Children’s Fund joined with the community outreach arm of the
Priory
of St. Scholastica in The women attend instructional classes on the principles of sustainable agriculture, which in turn they practice by growing garden produce to sell in local markets. They also raise and fatten goats and cows for sale, the proceeds of which are shared by the participants, therefore assuring each family of some supplemental income and family support.
This agricultural productivity project is
unique in
that it was initiated by a local,
peasant women’s association, an organization of poor, working mothers. The association's
explicit intent is not only to provide
short-term, supplemental income from their struggling farms and families, but
also to establish the groundwork for
long-term increased agricultural productivity
through the application
of modern methods
of farming throughout their rural community.
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| For information, email Ross@fcfinc.org | |
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a separate
agricultural collective in
order to increase family productivity by learning and applying
practical methods of sustainable farming. They also determined to
supplement meager family incomes by
raising both produce and animals. 