NVC Foundation Inaugurates Farm-Based Food Processing Center in San Carlos City

The Negrense Volunteers for Change (NVC) Foundation recently inaugurated a farm-based Food Processing Center. Nestled in the mountainous hills of San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, Philippines, the plant will boost the livelihood of famers belonging to the Indigenous Peoples in the area.

Contributed by Ms. Millie Kilayko, NVC President. Photos by Ronnie Baldonado.

Farm-Based Food Processing Center by NVC Foundation

Indigenous Peoples (IP) in the mountainous areas of San Carlos City in southern Negros Occidental are into farming. They grow vegetables and fruits, some of which are part of the supply to NVC’s production plant that manufactures MINGO meals.

Mingo is a nutritious instant complementary food that NVC uses for its nutrition program and emergency relief operations. It is also a key ingredient in the nutrition programs of many government units and non-government organizations.

The farmers and their families live in a remote 100-hectare area classified as an ancestral domain, on which the plant was erected. This farm-based food processing center was built using the Cement-Bamboo Frame Technology of Base Bahay Foundation Inc., supported by the Hilti Foundation.

Millie Kilayko, NVC president, says that this forges a dream to bring development to the farming areas to improve the earning capability and quality of life of its peoples.  “Mingo ingredients will no longer come to us in their raw and heavy forms. Squash, for example, will no longer need to be loaded on trucks but rather, its peels will be converted to fertilizer on site, its seeds planted, and its meat dehydrated and pulverized. We save carbon footprint while family income will be doubled because the farmers’ wives will operate the plant.”

The Physical Building

This structure was provided by Hilti Foundation and Base Bahay Foundation, using innovative technology that preserves bamboo with a life span of 50 years, as tested in their laboratories. The technology was developed by Hilti and is used worldwide, primarily in Latin American countries.

Moreover, the donors also used science-based methods in designing the inaugurated structure that was built to be disaster-resilient and environmentally friendly.

According to Merco Obas, head of the farmers’ organization, the 43 Indigenous Peoples belonging to their group are living in barangays Prosperidad, Rizal, and Nataban of San Carlos City. They farm in the area only, and the processing center, which will utilize more of their crops, will encourage members to increase their plantation areas.

Sun Life Foundation’s Role

Sun Life Foundation will turn over tools and equipment to the processing center in July, while the Technology and Livelihood Development Center (TLDC) of the Provincial Government of Negros Occidental will start training women to process products to diversify the facility’s output.

About the NVC Foundation

Headquartered in Bacolod City, the NVC Foundation is a non-profit organization working to fight hunger and poverty in the Philippines. Their goal is to provide disadvantaged children and their families with nutrition, education, and means of earning a living. They take a teamwork approach and work with other groups to make big and effective programs.

This project is another milestone towards the fulfillment of  NVC’s social development mission. The 15 year old organization has, as of now, served more than 25 million Mingo Meals both for nutrition and emergency relief purposes, turned over more than 5,000 Peter Project motorized fishing boats to fishermen without one of their own or to those who lost these to disasters, built over 200 classrooms and provided various forms of educational assistance to more than 10,000 students.

• Website: NVC Foundation