Ligayan is one of the five sitios comprising the barangay of Balantoy in the municipality of Balbalan, in the province of Kalinga. From Balantoy Proper which is the center of the barangay, the sitio is accessible only by foot. It takes two hours to reach the sitio following a foot trail along steep mountain slopes. An alternate route from Barangay Dao-angan will take an hour and a half of mostly uphill hiking.
The community has a population of 168 individuals distributed among 28 households belonging to the Salegseg tribe. Most members of the community are engaged in farming as their primary source of livelihood while some do small scale mining activities as source of cash income.
Like any far flung area, Ligayan is beset with problems due to the lack of basic social support and government neglect. Foremost of these is the food shortage that the community experiences for six months per year despite the area being blessed with natural resources such as rivers and fertile lands.
Community-built irrigation
Through the Balantoy Farmers’ Association for Development (BFAD) - a barangay wide peoples’ organization whose membership include the constituents of Ligayan, community members were able to request assistance from non-government organizations (NGO’s) like the Cordillera Disaster Response and Development Services (CORDRDS) and the Center for Development Programs in the Cordillera (CDPC) in implementing an irrigation project to tap the sitio’s resources to address their food shortage problem. The irrigation project consisted of three phases. CORDRDS took on the first phase while the remaining phases were handled by CDPC. BFAD contributed labor and other local materials as their counterpart. Through these collective and collaborative efforts, the irrigation project was able to reduce the rice shortage from six to four months through the increase in palay production.
However, this increase in production led to an added burden to the women and children who manually pound the palay to produce rice for their family’s consumption. In order to deal with this issue, the BFAD requested CDPC’s support for a diesel engine powered rice mill project, including a building to house the mill and its accessories.
But subsequent discussions with BFAD members resulted in the expanded use of the rice mill building. Instead of just providing shelter for the mill, the building’s design shall include a granary for their palay cooperative, a warehouse for their farm tools, a designated area to serve as a venue for trainings and seminars and a shed for blacksmithing activities, thus making it a multi-purpose building.
The MPRMB
The building was finally finished last November 26, 2011.Now that the rice mill unit has been installed at the newly-built Ligayan Multi Purpose Rice Mill Building, the labor intensive chore of manual pounding by the women and children of Ligayan is expected to be lessened if not totally eliminated..
Similar to the irrigation project, numerous consultations prior to the start of implementation were undertaken with the BFAD in order to have a common understanding about the project and its objectives. During such consultations, the counterparts of all stakeholders were discussed and identified. Plans for the various phases of implementation including a workable schedule were drawn. A management committee was also formed and the members of the organization were divided into working groups.
BFAD spearheaded the implementation. Through their indigenous tradition of cooperativism called “angkas,” where all members of the organization contributed their time, effort, food, local materials, and even some cash, a project that they know is for the common good was completed in no time at all.. Together with the assistance coming from CDPC and support from the Timpuyog ti Mannalon ti Kalinga (TMK), actual work on the building started on July 2, 2011 and was finished on November 26, 2011.
The multi-purpose rice mill building or MPRMB stands on a 75-square meter lot with a wide frontage. The lot was donated to the BFAD by one of the members. The building is a two-story structure with a total floor area of seventy two square meters. The first floor is where the rice mill is housed, along with the storeroom for BFAD’s farm tools and blacksmith equipments and supplies. The second floor is where the granary and conference area are located. Adjacent to the building is a shed where blacksmithing activities of the organization are held.
The community and BFAD provided labor and other locally available materials as their counterpart. CDPC supplied the hardware materials, freight and transshipment costs of the hardware aside from contributing a modest amount for food for work.
Policies and guidelines on the use of the MPRMB and the various projects under its roof were also drafted and finalized by the organization.
An operators’ training for the rice mill was facilitated by CDPC where 16 people were trained to operate and maintain their rice mill unit. A schedule for rice milling was set and an appropriate tariff for the milling services was discussed and agreed upon. From this tariff structure, fifty percent shall go to the operation and maintenance of the various components and accessories of the rice mill. Twenty five percent shall be set aside as depreciation cost for the equipment and the other twenty five percent shall go to the organization. The hauling of the needed fuel was discussed and this shall also be done on an “angkas” basis.
Now that the rice mill is operational in the community of Ligayan the laborious mortars and pestles can be set aside.
by: Frank Taguba