Japanese Ambassador Toshinao Urabe will attend the turn-over ceremony of “The Project for the Construction of Post Harvest Facilities for CARP Beneficiaries of Barangay Bual, Isulan, Sultan Kudarat” on August 18, 2012. The project was funded through the Grants Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (GGP).
The “Construction of Post Harvest Facilities for CARP Beneficiaries of Barangay Bual, Isulan, Sultan Kudarat” was initiated by the Bual ARBA Multi-Purpose Cooperative, a local cooperative with a grant amount of $89,538 (approximately Php3.9 million). The said amount was utilized through the Provision of warehouse, solar dryer and mini-rice mill as well as agricultural implements such as corn sheller, sledge tiller, power tiller, rice thresher, rice mill accessories and forward cargo truck. The Project seeks to alleviate the hardship for 325 farmer-members of Bual ARBA Multipurpose Cooperative as well as non-members in Barangay Bual and adjacent barangays in the the Municipality of Isulan in Sultan Kudarat who are in need of post-harvest facilities and machineries.
Barangay Bual has the biggest land area among the 17 Barangays in the Municipality of Isulan with 25,000 hectares of land. Most residents rely on agriculture as their main source of income. Although it is the biggest, it is also one of the most disadvantaged communities in Isulan with very slow economic growth owing to the absence of post harvest facilities and backward farming practices. The area was also the site of the armed conflict between the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and government forces in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The project is part of the Japan-Bangsamoro Initiatives for Reconstruction and Development (J-BIRD). Implemented since 2006 and designed to contribute to the peace process and development in the conflict-affected areas in Mindanao, the objective of J-BIRD is to enable the people and the communities in the target areas to enjoy the “dividends of peace” through the Japanese ODA (Official Development Assistance) on the basis of “Human Security” principles. As of March 2012, 58 projects have been implemented under J-BIRD, with the total amount of USD 4.7 million or approximately 243 million pesos.
