A Ray of Hope through Aduyon

“There is a ray of hope, that through special project Aduyon, the local agriculture sector could be revolutionized and could lead to real upliftment of socio-economic status.”

Jeffrey Sotero, Global Seed Savers Philippines Board Member and Municipal Agriculture Officer in Tublay, Benguet

With the unexpected outbreak of COVD-19, this pandemic highlighted the inequities in global supply chains and the challenges of moving food outside of locked down communities. Our partner farmers were unable to sell their products and the country’s most vulnerable in urban areas were left with less access to fresh healthy food. Aduyon is an Ibaloi word meaning mutual help or mutual aid and this is what we wanted to provide to our local farmers and communities in the Philippines. Through our Aduyon Initiative and the collaboration of many partners, we initiated an immediate relief response.

Since implementing our Adyuon Initiative, we have:

• Delivered over 720,000 pounds of vegetables
• Reached over 50,000 families in the vulnerable areas of Metro Manila and provided access to food
• Maintained the livelihood of over 500 farmers from 6 municipalities in Benguet Province: Tublay, Atok, Buguias, Kapangan, Kabayan and Kibungan
• Created daily wage jobs for 70 individual vegetable packers
• Sold over 15M Philippines Pesos (nearly $300,000 USD) of vegetables

Philippines Board Member, Jeffrey Sotero who led the vegetable packing efforts in Tublay shared the following:

“The project left a real solution and strategy to the local farming communities, which was not solved for many decades. As long as farmers, government and private sectors display genuine cooperation, solutions to problems are unknowingly solved...projects such as Aduyon succeed like a small, but mighty seed.”

The Aduyon Initiative is now blossoming into long-term recovery efforts and sustainability for expanded food security and seed sovereignty. Communities are realizing the importance of growing their own food and having access to locally produced seeds. We are working with local partners to offer urban gardening kits and education, in addition to expanding our programs on seed saving, seed libraries, and technical education.

Join the Aduyon Initiative so we can continue providing communities access to sustainable farmer produced food and seeds. Give today and help us reach our goal of $20,000 to extend our impact!