A NWAC member traying her hand on deworming a goat during one of the practical sessions of the FAO Paravet Training Program.

Barangay Nalapaan in the municipality of Pikit is one of the 63 barangays in Cotabato province which voted to join the then newly established Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in the February 2019 referendum for the Bangsamoro Organic Law. It is a multi-cultural community predominantly composed of Muslims, with pockets of Christians and indigenous populations residing in the village as well.

Like so many provinces in Mindanao in years past, Cotabato has had its fair share of conflicts that kept its progress in check. However, the province is endowed with favorable climate, fertile soil and lush vegetation, perfect for agriculture-based livelihoods to thrive. Barangay Nalapaan itself abounds with indigenous species of pasture grasses. Because of this, backyard ruminant-raising plays a significant part in the community’s economy. Like most communities in rural Philippines that share the same conditions as Nalapaan, livestock raising in the community serves the immediate cash needs of smallholder farming families as ruminants such as cows, goats and sheep can be easily sold and provide urgent need for cash to cover for hospitalization and health care needs as well as expenses for sending children to college. Livestock in the village is so important that a popular saying there goes like this: “when a cow dies, the hopes for a child’s college education – and future – dies with it”.

To realize the potential of ruminants as an income-generating venture, a group of Muslim women organized themselves into the Nalapaan Women’s Agricultural Cooperative (NWAC) in November 2018. Now 30-member strong, the women’s group is embarking on a goat value chain business enterprise with support from the FAO-implemented “Support to Agriculture and Agribusiness Enterprise for Sustainable Development in Mindanao” prioject, which is being funded by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). The group is a duly recognized women’s cooperative registered with the Cooperative Development Agency (CDA) as well as with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) as a rural enterprise organization.

NWAC is one of the 42 CBOs supported by the FAO-KOICA project in the provinces of Maguindanao and Cotabato. A level up from just goat-raising, the group is engaging in a goat value chain, incorporating production of choice chevon meat cuts which targets both retail and wholesale institutional markets in Mindanao. To this end, the cooperative had leased a 5-hectare lot for construction of goat barns and development of a forage and pasture grass farm.

In preparation for the group’s full-blown foray into this endeavor, four members of the cooperative underwent a week-long Paravet training organized by FAO. The training included classroom and practical sessions focusing on the care and management of goats, goat nutrition, and basic veterinary procedures. The latter covered practices such as deworming, intramuscular administration of veterinary drugs and vitamin supplements, hoof trimming, animal age determination, and estimating animal live weight based on body measurements. Likewise, the trainees were also trained on preparing corn silage and fermented herbal preparations for veterinary use.

Impressed by the training program, and recognizing the potential role of Paravets in assisting the Municipal Veterinarian in implementing veterinary health care programs in the community, the Barangay Council of Nalapaan passed a resolution on 18 November 2020 formally naming the four NWAC Paravets as Barangay Paravets, making them part of the village-level local government unit’s basic services delivery structure. With this official appointment, the NWAC Paravets will provide assistance not just to their fellow members but also to all livestock raisers in Nalapaan. Moreover, with the adoption of the NWAC Paravets, the community’s veterinary health care system can now be allotted budgetary support from both the barangay and municipal government funds, making the Paravet program even more sustainable.

“This is a proud moment for us not only as NWAC but moreso as women,” says NWAC Chair Alisa Galvan, referring to the appointment of her co-members as village Paravets.

“The integration of women Paravets into the local government basic service delivery system of Nalapaan may seem a small feat, but in a community – and in Mindanao at large – where women’s participation in any sector of society has been largely ignored and, in some cases, even discouraged, this is a big cultural leap,” she explained. The women Paravets of Nalapaan, therefore, could be regarded as “trail blazers” towards the realization of more meaningful participation of women in the development efforts of local communities. Equally significant is that the NWAC Paravets will also be serving both Muslims and non-Muslims, strengthening the trust and bond among cultures with different faiths and beliefs, which in the past have been one of the main root causes of conflicts in the region. The Paravet program may prove to be a model in realizing lasting peace and development in communities in the Bangsamoro region.