By FR. SHAY CULLEN
(Continued from Dec. 2, 2022)
REFORESTATION is now a priority, Jun told us. “You see here the grafted mango trees we planted some years ago. They will soon bear fruits,” he said, proudly pointing to the trees. He referred to the distribution of four-foot tall, grafted mango saplings donated by Preda Fair Trade every year to the 360 farmers in the Aeta farmers association for the past 15 years or so. This is very important to give stronger claims to the ancestral lands and to combat climate change as trees absorb CO2, the deadly gas that damages the environment by causing global warming.
Then we arrived at a big, mature mango tree and Juan pointed to the fruits hanging there. “Look, the excessive heat has expanded the seed inside the mango fruit and split the fruit,” he said in Tagalog. Global warming is damaging the livelihood of millions of poor subsistence farmers like Juan around the world.
Thousands of farmers are losing their livelihood because of the non-stop burning of fossil fuel, coal and oil and gas in massive quantities in the industrialized world. The Philippines also relies mostly on coal-burning power plants for electric generation. The Philippines has strong constant wind, sun, hydro and geothermal resources that can replace the coal-fired plants. However, the powerful family dynasties that control the government and run the coal plants are resisting any change. Yet, change has to come to save the Philippines and the mango fruits and other crops.
Then Juan showed us another variety of mango tree. “This is the most resilient mango variety of all,” Juan told us. “These mangoes are small but resilient and resistant to the heat but they are not tasty and sweet. They are called “Indian.” No one buys them in the market and we did not harvest them until Preda Fair Trade and Welt Partner in Germany ordered puree to be made from them. We are very happy now we have many Indian mango fruits.” Indian mango is made into aromatic vinegar by Vom Fass in Germany.
Juan and the 360 Aeta farmers were delighted to have a buyer for a fruit that has no commercial value in the Philippines. However, the volume that Vom Fass can buy is limited. Hopefully, another customer can be found to buy these mangos and help the livelihood of the Aeta farmers.
Then, Juan brought us to a banana grove where huge banana stalks soared to the sky and a huge bunch of green bananas hung downward, ready to collapse it seemed. These are the bananas that Preda Fair Trade would buy from the Aeta farmers and process into banana chips. These chips will be sold to Welt Partner in Germany for distribution to the World Shops known in German as Welt Laden. This will be an additional benefit to the Aeta farmers and their families.
The female graduates from the Preda healing and recovering therapeutic home for trafficked and abused children who are now 18 years old will be trained and employed in the organic banana chip-making. They will work and earn part-time and continue their studies in high School and college. They, too, are on the road to a happier life. (preda.org)/PN
