Clan wars to brotherhood
How alternative livelihoods healed past wounds in Pedtad
“Before, we could be seen together but we were not really that close. Now that we have this project, this fish pond, we are more like brothers,” says Fred Mantawil Dimalidseg, Deputy Provincial Commander of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and member of Lualuan Farmers and Fisherfolks Association.
Pedtad village used to be home to high rates of poverty, food security, violence and flooding. This combination of issues meant that changes were urgently needed to make Pedtad a safe and prosperous community.
In 2013, World Food Programme launched a Food-for-Assets project where volunteers would build community assets, including fishponds, in exchange for rice. While families in Pedtad were hoping this would help them to generate an income, they didn’t expect that they would work together on something more important — peace.
Food and work unite a community
“Before the establishment of our community assets, people here in our barangay (village) were divided in to different groups. There were conflicts and every household lived on their own. There even came a point that people even resorted to killing each other,” said Badarudin Mantawil, Member of the Board of Directors of Lualuan Farmers and Fisherfolks Association.
For Badarudin, one of the best things that happened after he joined in the Food-for-Assets project was the good relationship that he and his co-farmers were able to establish through the course of their work. It helped heal the past wounds brought by rido (clan wars) in their community.
“When we started working together for the project, our relationship got better. We all gained respect for each other,” said Badarudin.
Badarudin was one of the 140 members of the Lualuan Farmers and Fisherfolks Association who worked to build community assets in Pedtad village in exchange of rice cavans from WFP. They planted thousands of trees to reforest their area, built a flood control dike that now saves their crops from destruction by overflowing water from the river during heavy rains, and they constructed a multi-purpose pavement where they can properly dry their corn. They converted a vast idle area in their village that no one used into fish ponds, and their wives were trained to process fish.
“Everyone in the community has benefitted from this. When we first harvested after the project, we decided not to take our shares and instead invested them to a corn sheller and a tractor,” shares Badarudin.
“Their ability to sustain this project is a great achievement,” says Fahima Abdulaziz, Monitoring Assistant of the World Food Programme. It has been almost four years since WFP’s Food-for-Assets program in Pedtad was completed and turned over, but upon visiting them, the farmers of Pedtad proudly showed the equipment they invested in and the ponds they have maintained despite suffering from El Niño and being recently hit by a typhoon.
“They had a vision that even after WFP left, they can grow this project. It is great that they had the idea of investing their income in to farm machineries,” says Fahima. The farmers’ investments turned their produce into crops valued at higher cost and helped them increase their profit. Since then, they decided to grow their collective income to buy more farm equipment.
The farmers of the association now aim to grow their earnings and want to buy a truck so they can sell their products to farther markets. They now set goals together and work together to achieve them.
“Whenever our members need to enrol their kids to school and we have yet to harvest, we lend them money from the association and let them return the amount after the next harvesting season,” says Badarudin.
“Learning how to build ponds and produce fishes is one of the most beautiful things that happened to us. Conflicts no longer cross our minds. We now focus all our efforts on producing good results out of our livelihoods,” Badarudin adds.
Fahima also shared how fulfilling and inspiring it is to have worked and be able to bring positive change in Barangay Pedtad. “It is a big achievement for us that we supported a project that brought unity to their community.”
To read more about WFP’s work in the Philippines, visit the WFP website.
The SOFI report
In October 2017, the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World Report was launched, which found a clear link between hunger and conflict. Of the 815 million chronically under-nourished people in the world, 489 million live in countries affected by conflict. To read more about how we can overcome hunger and reach the Sustainable Development Goals, read the report here.
