Sydney
6 April 2003
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Peace ... harmony
Rugby league scores a try in a GPS college
Passing the baton
Peaceful action for peace
Catholic Weekly takes a holiday over Easter
Tissue project wins archbishop’s grant
A voice for the disabled
Faith centre moves
Younger set is 50
Fr Chris is guest
Ecumenical Stations of the Cross in wetlands
US move welcomed on partial birth abortion
Project Compassion 2003 - Leyte farmers can face better future
Editorial - Victims of war
Letters - Ash Wednesday
Conversation - Fr Patrick Byrne, Rome-based head of Children’s Mission: Big project or small, ‘it must be for kids’
Voice of Youth - Renaissance of thinking about the Middle Ages
Celebrate Love? Live it to the ‘max’
Heading off conflict before it hits crisis point
Crucifixion story wouldn’t go away
New home for new breed of priest
Christian Brothers spread social justice net
Luke’s Story wins award
300 at social justice forum
Music lets Andrew ‘share my faith’ ...
Project Compassion 2003 - Leyte farmers can face better future
The Southern Leyte province of the Philippines is a poverty stricken region with a high rate of unemployment.
Poverty in the province is exacerbated by its geographical location which is characterised by erratic climatic disturbances such as monsoonal rain and typhoons.
Given the province is primarily a subsistence farming region this makes life very uncertain for its people.
Caritas Australia, through the social action arm of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, the National Secretariat for Social Action-Justice and Peace (also known as Caritas Philippines), and a local partner, the South Pacific Integrated Area Development Foundation Inc, supports a sustainable agriculture program in the province.
The development foundation aims to create self-reliant communities where inhabitants can make decisions for themselves and make better use of available productive resources.
It has programs in a number of areas including health and nutrition, education, safe motherhood as well as sustainable agriculture.
Sandy (pictured) is a farmer from Southern Leyte province.
He belongs to a local farming organisation which consists of 24 men and women and their families.
It is one of the first organisations to benefit from this Caritas Australia-funded project to promote sustainable agriculture by decreasing - and ultimately ending - the dependence of farmers on chemical-based fertilisers and pesticides which are extremely expensive.
Farming costs have been reduced considerably as debts made to obtain grains, fertilisers and pesticides have been avoided.
Sandy has also observed that the farmland has recovered its fertility and that organic rice varieties are now more resistant to diseases compared with commercial varieties.
Initially, many farmers doubted the use of natural fertilisers as they were not ready to experiment in case it meant their crops would fail and their families would go without food. Few were willing to try.
Sandy and his fellow members, while hesitant, have welcomed the opportunity to try organic farming as they had just emerged from an unsuccessful attempt at producing and selling charcoal.
They set up trial farms on a small portion of the communal plot.
This ensured that Sandy would not suffer complete loss if the first crop failed.
In addition farmer participants were also taught seed breeding technology.
The sustainable agriculture program they have been implementing over the past two years with the support of Caritas Australia has positively changed their lives.
Today they are recognised as a major agricultural force. Sandy is regularly invited to speak at farmer’s assemblies to share his knowledge on organic farming.
Other farmers are now trying to replicate the organisation.
Any part of the harvest beyond the quantity set aside for household consumption of each member’s family is pooled and subsequently sold. Proceeds are added to the organisational fund. which now stands at more than $250.
That amount may seem small to most organisations, but to a group of impoverished farmers in a poor province such an amount will go a long way.
It will serve as a revolving fund from which members will be able to borrow.
Your donation to Project Compassion will help more rural communities to escape the poverty cycle and become more self-reliant.
Information from Roel A Andag, Taking the Big Leap.