My Neighbor's Blog

Yeah just in case you cant get enough blogging - here is another one. And its more comprehensive and frequent than mine. And it also overlaps a lot. So check it out. Thanks Jennie - dont worry I wont stop my own blogging. http://jenniedurant.com/blog/index.html

Pics of last 2 months

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A tidbit from my work here

The following is from my January Report to my supervisor. I have to do a monthly report and this one both sums up the work I am doing here and presents an interesting conundrum. DA BEARS!!!

January Report

This month I decided to switch things up a bit and work out of the agriculture office at the municipyo. Instead of working out of home or at Jimmy and Sammy’s houses, I went to see J. Cabbigat and the rest of my friendly D.A staff here in Banaue. Many ideas came to me as a result of the overall increased contact with agricultural minds. I wanted to confront the many recent arguments that the project is not suitable or worthwhile for most small-scale farmers. In other words what I felt needed to be done was a case study regarding supply side feasibility with the typical small-scale farmer. So I decided to work with the D.A’s very own Emilio Abayao.

Scenario A – Emilio grows all Tinawon
We assume a “typically” poor harvest of his tinawon due to an abundance of a variety of pests, a shortage of water and to the fact that since this is the first or even second trial of the tinawon, it has not yet acclimatized or adapted to this particular soil and climate. Emilio is able to harvest 66 bundles. This roughly equates to 132 kilos. We then put that through strict quality control and assume we lose 32 kilos after pounding, screening, and sorting. So Emilio sells 100 kilos at 50 pesos/kilo and receives a check for 5000P.
To calculate Emilio’s total labor payment in growing the tinawon we take into account all necessary field work done by laborers throughout the year, lunch for the harvesters, and the amount it would cost to pay men to pound 66 bundles of rice (So keep in mind, Emilio is not actually putting in any of the hard labor associated with growing rice). The total expenses come out to 3500P.
Income minus expenses leaves Emilio with 1500P. But now, since he sold all of his rice he must buy consumption rice for an entire year. Emilio says he eats 1 kilo of rice a day and at 23pesos/kilo of commercial rice, he spends 8280P on rice to eat for the entire year. That leaves Emilio with a net –6780P when it is all said and done at the end of the year. One obvious detail of being a small-scale rice farmer is that it is a livelihood that is clearly unsustainable without other means of income.

Scenario B – Emilio grows all Lucuop
Lucuop is one of the high-yielding varieties that many farmers in the BPKI region choose to grow for its high-yield and relatively low maintenance. *It should be noted that it has been known to harden the soil after a few plantings, which has obvious concerns for the future fertility of the soil. The majority of farmers, however, do not seem to heed this fact as they can simply “get a different variety later.”* Emilio says a normal harvest would yield about 120 bundles. Since there is no market for this rice and it is grown for consumption, Emilio says this will last for 3 months of consumption. But Emilio still had labor payments to grow this rice that totaled 2400P (less in this scenario because there is no need to pay labor for pounding.) For the other 9 months of consumption, Emilio pays a total of 6210P on commercial rice. That leaves Emilio with a net –8610P when it is all said and done at the end of the year.

Analysis
The Heirloom Rice Project clearly benefits Mr. Emilio Abayao. He saves 8610P- 6780P = 1830P by growing and selling the tinawon. For a farmer that cannot sustain his household with rice farming, the extra cash serves as a welcome incentive to become a member of RTFC. Right? – Wrong. According to Emilio, this 1830P is not enough incentive for him to switch to tinawon production. Why? He says that he has such a dislike of the commercial rice that he is only forced to buy it when his harvest of “natural, organic, healthy” rice (Lucuop) runs out. Simply put, he would rather eat only 9 months of commercial rice than receive 1830P and eat 12 months of commercial rice. The extra health benefit, according to Emilio is worth it. When I proposed this same scenario to the entire D.A office, they all gave me the same answers. The fact that the rice is grown on their very own beloved Banaue rice terraces, no matter if it isn’t the traditional rice, is a source of pride. Having to eat lowland commercial rice is a shame they would avoid at seemingly any costs, well at least 1830 pesos worth. There is a xenophobic element to the rice culture here. Selling their coveted tinawon abroad and consequently, forcing themselves to buy the lowland commercial rice is something some farmers aren’t willing to do. They cling to the reason that the missing health benefit of not having those few extra months of homegrown rice is too great to sacrifice for the success of the project. But I believe this is a blatantly pretentious excuse. Some farmers are just plain distrustful of foreign intervention. It is a facet of the Ifugao people. It is what distinguishes them from other Filipinos. They pride themselves on their tribal roots relatively free of colonialism. It is also a pretentious excuse for the reason that the rice culture here simply prefers the terrace rice, as there is an emotional connection with it. Whether or not the varieties grown are lowland high yielding is of no consequence as it is only important that the rice stem from the soil of their ancestral terraces. These are the real kind of protective measures taken that explain why nearly the entire D.A staff chooses not to tangibly support the Cordillera Heirloom Rice Project.
Keep in mind, this is only representative of a handful of opinions coming from officers in the D.A who are relatively well off. I suspect that the poorer rural farmers will feel different about the potential of saving 1830P. For this reason alone, I think it is very important to the goal of eventually reaching 100 tons of tinawon export, that we focus more of our efforts on widening the exposure of the project rather than on the persuasion of those areas where we struggle to meet quota/pledges. This way we can find more farming areas like Amganad.

As for other matters, the RICE Inc. 2007 survey has been fully revised to look more professional and to address practical concerns. There is a cover letter with its purpose and within the first week of February, it will be distributed with the assistance of PAENRO. Samples from villages of each municipality are being worked on and collected now.

From Home

Hey so Im back and Im going to try this again. A lot has happened. The governor died and there was a massive 10 day wake. He was a prominent man, helped a lot of people in the province. My Lola (grandma), pretty much my best friend here, is his mother. So it has been very difficult for her, I can only imagine. Every day of the wake is pretty much the same: all night gambling, praying, singing, feasting with a big crowd flowing in and out till early morning. There were about 30 pigs a day slaughtered. Vegetables and fruits and any other thing besides meat are forbidden in the diet during this mourning period. My host uncle and siblings came up from school and work. I met most of them for the first time. It was nice having a big family to hang out with, kids my age that I could relate to. The funeral was on the last day, where the body was placed in a native house. I opted not to attend so that I could stay with my lola as she could not make the trip up the hill to the native house. She shows signs of strength, joking and laughing like her usual self, and then just the simplest touch sets her off into tears. I gave her a long hug, not letting go of her, saying she has my deep condolences. I hope that things can go back to normal here at my host family’s home. A few veges wouldn’t hurt also, just joking. Actually my host brother and I just discovered a hilarious new way to waste time besides shooting miserable dogs with the bee bee gun. We go around with my digital camera secretly recording people in video mode without them knowing it is turned on. Of course us two are laughing the whole time and everyone else thinks were crazy. We then plug it into my computer and watch it with the audio cracking up at ourselves. I really hope this doesn’t get old. Before the news of the governor reached, I went to visit my old training site of Saytan. There was a big birthday bash in Baguio the night before. The volunteers from my batch in North Luzon were all there. The new pics on the blog, taken by a friend of mine, are of that night. It’s a pretty big event to say the least when we can get dressed up and have a night out on the town complete with booze and ass shaking. We gorged on Mongolian buffet for 3 bucks and then hit up the billiard hall and dance clubs. We’re like a bunch of rehab patients on our first relapse whenever we get together. So the next day Jill, Eva and I went to Saytan. We stayed with my host mom Florentina Buma-a. She really is one of the sweetest ladies I have ever met. She understands the cultural nuances at odds between us and makes the environment very comfortable, feeling like you can communicate just about anything to her, which is pretty rare here, especially with the older generations. She made an absurd amount of food for us too: a huge bucket of fried chicken, a big wok of pancit canton (similar to chow mien), heaps of puta (rice cake), a vat of spaghetti (filipino style loaded with sugar) and much more. Our second day there was Children’s day at the barangay. They did the usual program: an Ilokano folk dance, a modern dance which the kids love, basically a hip hop dance, parlor games and a number of random performances. It was good to see all those faces that first welcomed me into the Philippines. I came back speaking a different language, though, which didn’t really help out my cause. One funny thing about my few days there was how relaxed, yet busy I felt. I can remember being bored to the point of insanity there. But, now, I just wanted to “tombay,” lay around and chit chat. Guess you could say I have adapted to the culture. After Saytan, I went to this great little hidden gem on the west coast of North Luzon, San Juan. It’s a great laid-back surfing town. The first day the waves were small, a good size to learn on, but the second day huge sets were coming in. Man o man, it felt good to be back home again on the beach, all warm and getting pounded by waves. Too bad the place is far from my site, about a 9 hour bus ride south and then 3 hours northwest, but I will definitely be making a few more trips out there again. You can set up tent on the beach for free and just pay 50 pesos for use of shower and bathroom and then get away cheap with eggs, fruit, and fresh fish for the day. Whenever I get homesick, San Juan will be the first thing on my mind to cure it. As for work, I had a successful post-shipment consultation with the Banaue farmers. We set it up as a farmers’ dialogue, so as to make it as interactive as possible. We wanted to hear from the farmers themselves, not the government employees, to reflect on their experience growing the native rice and processing it for export. Many farmers went on about all the challenges and obstacles and we, then, tackled every problem, coming to a consensus. Many problems were due to financial constraints of either the department of agriculture, the NGO, or the farmers themselves. Other problems mentioned such as the rice culture not being followed, were interesting to hear discussed. The older generation complained of the traditional planting season not being followed, and about the lack of rituals and rites performed around the rice cycle. The younger farmers wanted to see other farmers adapt to new technology such as dryers and mills. I, also, began my surveying. I drafted a two page questionnaire inquiring about income, cultural involvement, harvesting, maintenance and planting behaviors. I have introduced it to some farmers and quickly learned how difficult this is going to be. They have to individually be guided through it, word for word. I can make a translated version but I doubt it will make much difference. The information will be used for both applying for grants for the project and as a way to monitor the effectiveness of the project; the gain to the farmers. There are three ways this is measured in the survey. Economic benfit will be measured as the gain in sustainable livelihood, including: Gain in gross annual income of participating farmers; Total monies entering community via CHRP production; Percentage of family income from rice production; Access to tangible goods including education and medical; Number of family members involved in rice production. Environmental benefit will be measured as improvements to rice terraces, including: Acreage of terraces repaired or reclaimed; Number of seedlings planted; Percentage of TRV’s in plantings; Acreage in synchronized planting; Number of tons of rice harvested; Acreage certified for organic production. Cultural benefit will be measured as revival of indigenous traditions of community rice production, including: Number of community members involved in rice production; Increase in frequency of cultural activities within villages; Increase in cooperative farming practices; Increase in involvement by traditional headmen.
As for other matters here, I fell down my ridiculous stairs and screwed up my back. I was wearing socks, sweatpants, and a sweatshirt and my slippery wooden stairs launched me down into the wall at the bottom like a slip n’ slide. I got all seasons of Sopranos on dvd for like 4 bucks. Gotta love piracy! There was a category 4 (4 out of 5) typhoon here that caused huge landslides around my house. I live on a steep hill too, so I was constantly listening for that deep grumble of the earth, very scary stuff. To see half a mountainside completely gone, with massive trees snapped like twigs right outside your front door is a new thrill for me, haha. Oh and I’m stoked for Thanksgiving coming up. The volunteers get together in Sagada, the place with all the caves, should be a blast. And after that I have a week long language training camp in San Fernando, which is only about 20 minutes south of San Juan, so a week of surfing actually. Ok gotta run. Thanks for bearing through all this if you made it this far. Much love to my friends and family back home, miss ya’ll more than you think, I mean it! -ADAM

SOMETIMES I HATE THIS PLACE

Unbelievable! I just wrote a blog probably about 10 pages long or maybe 4 or 5 feet in length on this screen. I was about to save and publish it when suddleny the power went out. It happens all the freaking time. Brownouts they call it, its an accepted way of life here. I wrote so much just for it all to be erased. I have paid heaps for the use of internet and for what? NOTHING. SO I'm sorry but I cant write anymore. I am gonna go hunt down the Ifugao Power Corporation. Have a nice day. Enjoy the pics

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