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Sixty per cent of the more than 500 households in the coastal village of Nazareth, in Kabasalan, Zamboanga Sibugay, Philippines, are lime farmers. Because of the highly perishable nature of limes and their oversupply, earnings from limes used to be low. Five years ago, the Western Mindanao Community Initiatives Project helped establish a lime processing centre in the town. The project also provided capacity-building and production training to the Nazareth Women's Association, organized specifically by the project to manage the business. Less than a year after the centre's establishment, the 35-member-strong association had earned PHP 104,120 (over US$2,200) from the sale of lime concentrate. With technical assistance and advice from the project, the association has greatly improved productivity and product quality, and adopted a modern packaging style (including bar codes and nutritional information). As a result, the centre's lime concentrate has now been accredited by the government's Bureau of Food and Drugs. To meet growing demand, the project also funded new processing equipment that allows the centre to produce 200 bottles of limes concentrate per batch (requiring 156 kilograms of limes). The centre has also recently added another product line: squeezed lime rind made into jelly, candy and jam. Because of the project, Nazareth has become an economically and socially stronger community. The women's association is still growing. The village's lime growers have a regular market for their produce and are earning far more than before. Given the processing centre's positive impact on the town, the provincial government provided it with additional capital through its 'One Town One Product' programme.
Rural Poverty Portal, 2009. Developing Small Enterprises with Savings and Credit Support, http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org/ (2009). |
