Miarayon, Talakag, Bukidnon – There was an atmosphere of a fiesta yesterday in the mountain village of Miarayon, Talakag when the small and old backhoe was unloaded from a truck after a 4-hour trip from Kidapawan City.
The mayor, Vergito Factura, all the barangay officials and the farmers were there as the blue PC20 Komatsu mini-backhoe stretched its arm to start a road opening in an area where a vegetable buying station will soon open.
I promised to lend the backhoe to a group of vegetable farmers who belong to the Talaandig tribe when I visited the village two weeks ago.
It was during that visit, my 6th or 7th, when young farmer leader Ryan Danio told me that they suffer huge losses because of the absence of access roads to their vegetable production areas.
He said vegetables are carried to the roadside from interior production areas on horseback causing spoilage.
I frankly told them that if they will wait for funding from the national government, the best that they could hope for is about two years before farm to market roads could be constructed.
Since Mayor Factura was with me during the visit, we worked out a solution.
I volunteered to lend a small farm backhoe to the farmers, Mayor Factura will shoulder the fuel while the farmers will pay for the operator’s daily wage and maintenance.
This old backhoe came from my brother, Efren, which I acquired for a token when he did not have much use for it.
I used this small equipment to dig ditches in the farm and to shape contours.
Since I do not have a lot of work to do in the farm, I volunteered to lend it to the tribal farmers.
Yesterday, when the backhoe arrived, Danio said the small equipment will definitely change their lives as they could now build access roads and even water impounding for their vegetable farms.
The farmers celebrated yesterday’s event with a lechon, boiled native corn, camote and potatoes, all of which they raised and produced in their farms.
I never realized that a small old equipment could be seen as an instrument of hope for the people of this mountain village.
(Photos taken by the Mindanao Development Authority Media Team.)
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