A Bayanihan Project is feeding farmers who feed the nation with their fresh produce but are now themselves going hungry due to the lockdown that closed markets to stop the spread of COVID 19.
The donation drive group For Our Farmers MYCO PH started its Bayanihan project to assist the farmers who lost their livelihood as markets for their fresh produce stopped operations amid the community quarantine in the Philippines.
The group’s founder, Anjanette Tadena, says that the charity organization first started out as an immediate response to the COVID-19 pandemic. “We focused on providing food packs because they were a way to provide immediate aid,” Tadena adds.
The agripreneur from the University of the Philippines Los Banos, who also started a “Kindness Station” in Pangasinan to help supply the basic needs of farmers and indigent families during the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) in Luzon, said they at first had no concrete plans for any long-term projects.
The Bayanihan project at first reached out with food packs for hundreds of farmers from all over Pangasinan, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, and Pampanga.
The group also provides scholarships for the schooling of the farmers’ children.
The MYCO PH also recently partnered with Country Banker’s Insurance Group to provide insurance for the farmers.
The non-profit organization that recognizes farmers as the unsung heroes of the pandemic describes its mission: “People who till the land to provide food for the rest of the country should never go hungry.”
For Our Farmers MYCO PH uses its online platform to share the personal stories of Filipino farmers. “We want to be the bridge,” Tadena shares.
The charity organization’s online presence has been noticed by companies and individuals who want to offer services and donations to Filipino farmers.
Alyssa Mariano, a self-taught painter, got wind of For Our Farmers through social media. Moved by the initiative, she decided to contribute to the cause by selling her paintings and donating 70 percent of the profit to the group.
Anjanette Tadena was recognized for her good deed project in the Good Light Message of Hope Heroes social campaign that created solar messages to encourage people during the pandemic.
Filipinos have started their own initiatives and efforts to help local farmers, among them the social enterprise Rural Rising PH which partnered with San Miguel Corporation to create the Better World UP, a sustainable marketplace to sell produce from local farmers.
Rural Rising PH is also offering a crate of hope to help feed jeepney drivers’ families.
Another social enterprise sells the Gising Gising Box of fresh produce supplied by Benguet and Quezon farmers. The online store donates a box to poor families with every purchased box of vegetables.
SEND CHEERS in the comments below to the team behind For Our Farmers MYCO PH for providing for the needs of Filipino farmers.
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