China-Philippines Cooperative Poverty Alleviation Story in Banana

In the tropical island country of the Philippines, bananas are not only widely loved by local people, but also important export products. With China, the largest export market, and Filipino farmers at one end, bananas are witnessing the efforts of China-Philippines cooperation to benefit people's livelihood and help Filipino farmers get rid of poverty and become rich.

Davao, located in Mindanao in the southern Philippines, has a warm climate and abundant rainfall. The cultivation of tropical fruits such as bananas, durians and mangoes is one of the pillars of the local economy. In Malanba village, more than 50 kilometers away from Davao City, the 66-year-old Camelo Dajido and his wife Lodes planted nearly 1000 banana trees, which is where their family lives.

In this village, many villagers still live in simple wooden houses, and there are basically no decent furniture and electrical appliances. There is only a dirt road covered with stones to enter the village. It is muddy and difficult to walk on rainy days. Dagido used to work as a security guard in a nearby town. The reason why he changed to banana planting was due to the poverty alleviation project under the cooperation between China and the Philippines.

This project is initiated and supported by the Chinese side. In cooperation with the Davao municipal government and third-party merchants, the Chinese side provides free banana seedlings, fertilizers and pesticides to 100 farmers in remote areas, and coordinates the local government to send agricultural technicians to provide guidance, and the cooperative merchants to purchase uniformly, so as to export banana processing products to the Chinese market through existing channels, and help farmers achieve poverty alleviation.

Dajido is the first farmer to join the project. The banana seedlings planted last year are expected to have the first harvest in August this year.

Ariel Gallau, a staff member of the cooperative merchant, said that the farmers' bananas will be uniformly purchased by them at the market price, processed into banana slices, and then exported to the Chinese market.

Da Jiduo made an account for the reporter. If the harvest of 20 kilograms of bananas per tree is calculated, planting bananas will bring his family nearly 200000 pesos (about $3640), more than twice the annual income of the former security guard.

Today, Dajido walks around the banana forest every day to check the growth of the seedlings.

Once encountering difficulties, he will immediately contact the agricultural technician, Huana Flores.

Flores was assigned to Malanba village by the agricultural department of Davao City and was responsible for providing technical guidance to 15 banana growers in the village. She told the reporter that her mobile phone number is now a "hotline" and may receive a consultation call from farmers at any time.

Flores said that the banana forest in Malanba Village is growing well, and it will harvest well in the second half of the year. Seeing the obvious effect of income increase, more villagers showed their willingness to join the banana planting project.

Planting bananas is also expected to bring changes to Malanba village. Flores said that the local government has approved the budget to rebuild the mountain road to Malanba village to facilitate the transportation of bananas.

"When I told the villagers to repair the road, they all jumped with joy," she said. "Bananas are changing their lives."