Leyte’s Mamanwa tribe: From wild hunters to vegetable farmers

BURAUEN, Leyte, Oct. 25  -- Learning the techniques of modern organic farming was a turning point for a small community of indigenous people in an upland village here as they transformed from being wild hunters to cultivators of high-value vegetables.

Mamanwa tribe leader Dioni Manatbanat, 49, of Kagbana village, said in an interview Wednesday that after completing an organic farming training last June, they abandoned their age-old practice of hunting in the wild and engaged in raising high-value crops.

A total of 50 members of the Mamanwa tribe in Kagbana received a certification from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority. The trainees -- 31 women and 19 men -- finished the 10-day training course on producing organic vegetable leading to organic agriculture and earned a National Certificate II for it.

Specifically, tribe members were trained the organic of way of producing lettuce, broccoli, carrots, cauliflowers, radish, asparagus, onions and strawberries. The long-term goal is to supply the demand of groceries and hotels in the province.

Tribe members also learned how to produce their own organic fertilizers using manure or agricultural residues available in the community.

At least 15 of those who trained are former members of the New People’s Army. Their low level of education and poverty made them vulnerable to influences of community rebels.

Since they don’t earn regular income from wildlife hunting, some tribe members resorted to gathering rattan and weaving them into baskets and making furniture. Each of the 10 families in the tribe earns an average of PHP1,500 a month from this livelihood.

“We all know how to plant, but we all have different ways and techniques. The modern organic farming techniques taught to us have opened new windows of opportunities and are our key for development and for more assistance from the government to reach us,” Manatbanat said during a gathering at the town hall.

The Leyte provincial government also gave the trainees agricultural tool kits, seeds and PHP5,000 in cash as start-up capital to set up a cooperative for tribe members so they could easily access assistance from the government.

Leyte Governor Leopoldo Dominico Petilla said in an earlier interview the provincial government will continue its assistance to residents of Kagbana, some 40 km. from the town center.

A PHP15-million road construction project from San Vicente village in McArthur town to the Kagbana community is ongoing and will be followed by the construction of a hanging bridge before the end of the year.

“The government is here to improve the lives of people living in remote communities. The province will implement projects to improve their condition, like what we did in Villaconzoilo,” Petilla said.

Villaconzoilo is a village in Jaro town that has been transformed from being a rebel-infested and poverty-stricken community into a model of agri-tourism in the Eastern Visayas region.

From producing high-value crops and supplying their products to big groceries, hotels and malls in Tacloban City and other parts of Leyte province, Villaconzoilo expanded its operations to farm tourism in 2016, generating additional income from entrance fee.

The Mamanwa tribe settled in Kagbana village in the early 1950s, choosing to live in the farthest village of the town that is covered with virgin forest and difficult to reach, and where lands have no owners.

The Mamanwa families, whose houses are in the upper part of the village, get along well with locals living at the lower part. (SQM/RTA/PNA)