June Rojo (PAR Coordinator, Eastern Mindanao), assists Bae Liza Saway (Talaandig Community) along with other women, during the ribbon cutting ceremony at the start of “Feed 10,000 Journey”. 14 October 2015, Barangay Sungko, Municipality of Lantapan, Province of Bukidnon.
PBCI celebrates with the first year milestone of the “Feed 10,000 Journey” of the Talaandig Tribe
The Talaandig tribe celebrated its first-year milestone of what it considers as a revolutionary effort against conventional farming and food systems. In 2014, the Talaandig started the “Feed 10,000 Journey” which aims to feed 10,000 people in a month. This is to secure food sovereignty for their people by planting and harvesting with their own hands.
It was led by Datu Migketay Saway, Talaandig leader, who had brandished conventional forms of farming as “instruments of colonization.” Multi-national companies oftentimes encroach on the ancestral domain of indigenous peoples turning hectares of ecosystem-balanced forests into mono-cropped fields. This resulted to the disconnection of indigenous peoples (IPs) to their land and to some extent, to their identity, because the IP worldview sees people connected to nature.
With this, the program was based on the principles of:
- Food for people, not for profit. A farmers toils the land for food and not to simply feed the companies’ purses. Datu Migketay said that organizations and individuals who supported the program should produce food for their community and should try to use little capital, basing instead on the people’s ingenuity.
- Farmers’ Value: Farmers commit to a two-hour work duty in order to give time to other activities that contribute to his or her well-being.
- Promoting diversity: Re-introduction of smallholder farming and diversity showed by multi-cropping using local and indigenous seeds and involving everyone in the family.
- Working with nature: The farmer works within the traditional farming cycle in respect to the Creator and the spirits that guard the nature by performing the respective rituals. It also means free from invasive technologies such as genetically-modified organisms, chemicals and the like.
This year as they celebrate, Datu Migketay shared the model farm and other initiatives they have been doing to pursue their aim. They also opened up food security booths.
This event was attended by representatives from various government agencies, civil society organizations, business corporations, academic institutions, police, military, religious groups, and various tribal councils.
Datu Migketay said that organizations and individuals who supported the program should produce food for their community and should try to use little capital, basing instead on the people’s ingenuity.
