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Indigenous people in rural areas of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) suffer from widespread, pervasive poverty and under-development.
Conflicts between the Philippine Government and rebels have plagued the area, hindering and often preventing economic activity, the provision of social services, and development work.
Subsistence agriculture is the main economic activity in the Central Mindanao Province of Maguindanao, the only province in the ARMM that still has a majority of indigenous people known as Maguindanaoans.
In 1991, ADB approved a $48 million loan for the Kabulnan Irrigation and Area Development Project to help raise rural incomes by increasing farm production and productivity, and to provide better health, nutrition, sanitation, and education. The project also promoted the role of women in the development process, and contributed to improved food security.
The project area covered 250 square kilometers and included 76,000 people, 93% of whom were indigenous Maguindanaoans. The project was part of ADB’s sustained commitment to develop irrigation systems in rural Mindanao.
Since 1969, ADB has funded 13 irrigation projects in Mindanao that have focused on reducing poverty and environmental degradation.
Statistics compiled at the outset of the project depicted Maguindanaoans as greatly disadvantaged. One in three children suffered from moderate to severe malnutrition, and about 80% of the families in the project area lived below the poverty line.
Lack of adequate classrooms, teaching materials, and qualified teachers resulted in a literacy rate of 47%, which is substantially lower than the regional average of 73.5% and the national average of 86%.
Poor living conditions and inadequate primary health care caused a high incidence of waterborne diseases and schistosomiasis (a parasitic disease caused by contact with infected water).
ROUGH GOING When the author (center) first visited the area in 1992, the peace and order situation was tense—he rode in a large dump truck protected by armed military
When I first visited the area in 1992 on a loan review of another project, the peace and order situation was tense—I rode in a large dump truck protected by armed military.
The local people were skeptical about the project, especially during the early years when long delays occurred because of late fund releases by the Government, problems with contractors, unstable peace and order in the area, and heavy rains and flooding.
When construction of irrigation facilities began in 1994, along with tube wells, roads, classrooms, and health stations, the people began to believe that the Project was really for their benefit.
Opening the main canal in 1998 was a major event for the province. President Fidel Ramos and officials involved in the peace process, including former Libyan Ambassador to the Philippines Rajab Azzarouq and ARMM Governor Nur Misuari, attended the ceremony in recognition of the Project’s importance in turning peace into economic opportunity.
As we waited for the ceremony to begin, the then Governor of Maguindanao, Zacaria Candao, told me, “The place where we stand today was a hot spot where many fights were fought between the locals and military.”
He pointed to a nearby hill where, he said, most of the battles between the army and rebels had taken place at the height of the fighting. “That was a permanent military post,” he said, “but now, after the construction of the headworks, it is as safe as any other place in the country.”
When I reviewed the Project in November 2001, 97% of the irrigation component, and 100% of the social component had been completed. Irrigation and drainage facilities had been constructed to serve nearly 9,000 hectares. However, rice yields on irrigated farms during 1998 and 1999 were comparable to rainfed areas because the farmers had little knowledge of irrigated farming, and were using low-yielding seeds and inadequate inputs.
In 2001, the yield increased 20–30% after farmers received training, and the Philippine Rice Research Institute introduced certified seeds. In 2001, the dry season rice yield was 3.3 tons per hectare (t/ha) and the wet season yield was 3.6 t/ha. These were less than the Project’s goal of 4.5 tons per hectare, but more than the 2 t/ha yields before the Project.
During my visit in September 1995, when the main canal embankment was under construction, I asked farmers how they thought they would benefit from the project.
They told me that they were already benefiting by using the embankment as a road, particularly as it provided easier access to remote areas. They said that the production cost of the rainfed farming they were practicing had been greatly decreased because of reduced transport costs for inputs and produce.
The farmers had previously carried sacks of rice on their heads for long distances. The road network financed under the Project has also facilitated better access to law enforcement agencies, which has helped improve security situation.
Many beneficiaries pointed out that the project had changed the look of the area.
Swamps were drained—thus eliminating the root cause of schistosomiasis; roads provided easier access to remote areas; and irrigation water significantly improved production and the earnings of the farm families.
Huts made of palm leaves had been upgraded into houses with galvanized iron sheet roofs, and the number of television antennas, businesses, and shops had increased noticeably.
At the beginning of the project, about 26% of the farmers in the project area were share tenants. Few landholders had titles, in part because Maguindanaoans regard land as kinship property, defined by ancestral and customary principles.
The Project set out to ensure that landholders in the project area would be issued land titles.
During the project, the Department of Agrarian Reform began working in the ARMM and, by November 2001, had validated 8,750 lots with 3,732 landowners and 5,324 beneficiaries.
Because of implementation delays, and the requirement for beneficiaries to clear their tax and bank arrears, the land-titling component could not be completed by the end of the project in April 2002. It is still ongoing.
The social component involved work by several government agencies and a nongovernment organization (NGO).
The National Irrigation Administration, the Project’s executing agency, completed its institutional development work to organize and register 14 irrigators’ associations and train their members.
The Department of Public Works and Highways constructed or improved 44 km of roads, a bridge, 135 deep wells, and 317 shallow wells.
The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries improved agricultural extension services by establishing 45 pilot demonstration farms; training extension workers, cooperators, and farmers; and providing farm implements and postharvest facilities.
The Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center, an NGO known for its sloping agricultural land technology, implemented soil conservation measures in the watershed, conducted a community awareness campaign, organized and trained farmers, and established the technology on 1,500 hectares.
The Center has decided to continue to work in the area, using its own resources over the next 6 years in response to the farmers’ high level of interest to ensure the sustainability of the activities.
The Department of Health led improvements in health facilities, which included constructing 21 community health stations, rehabilitating 7 existing stations, constructing a municipal health center, and constructing a toilet with a septic tank for each school in the project area.
A health education and training program on hygiene, nutrition, vaccination, and prevention of communicable diseases complemented these infrastructure projects.
A schistosomiasis control program identified and treated those suffering from the disease, and improved 3,000 household toilets to reduce the rate of new infections.
The Department of Education, Culture, and Sports constructed 81 classrooms, complete with furniture and books, and conducted 2 teachers’ training sessions on mathematics and science. In 1997, at the Government’s request, the Project established a science laboratory and a computer center with 10 computers.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development constructed a training center for women; and in collaboration with NGOs, trained 1,500 women in improved irrigation practices and upland crop production; provided livelihood-generating skills such as sewing, weaving, and making indigenous and consumer products; and improved functional literacy and community mobilization.
This project component was well received by women in the project area.
When I visited the area in November 2000, the peace and order situation had improved so much that I was allowed to travel without military escorts, and the people carried farm implements instead of guns.
This, with the project’s solid achievements in improving the lives of the poor residents, was heartening. However, conflict returned to the area, and prevented me from going to Maguindanao in November 2001 for the final loan review mission.
A devastating flood also hit the area on 12 August 2001, damaging the main canal and flood protection works, and silting up the irrigation distribution systems.
The National Irrigation Administration has since repaired much of the damage, and is continuing its work in the area to raise incomes and the standard of living of Maguindanaoans.
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