Farming of high value vegetables has increased the combined annual income of the fifty member Mapia Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Sumbakil, Polomolok, South Cotabato to P4 M (US$ 80,000) from P1M (US$ 20,000) in just one year. The increase was a direct result of assistance from USAID's Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) Program, which introduced the farmers, all former Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) combatants, to sustainable cultivation of high value vegetable crops.

GEM's Targeted Commodity Expansion Program (TCEP) brought in agricultural input suppliers of seed, fertilizer and environmentally-safe pesticides and helped the cooperative establish a demonstration farm planted to bitter gourd, eggplant, sweet pepper, tomato, cucumber and pechay. TCEP staff also trained the farmers to employ effective planting and post-harvest techniques and then linked them with buyers.

GEM is encouraging farmers throughout Mindanao to diversify into high-value crops such as vegetables, mangoes, and peanuts.

"The income from vegetable farming is helping to lift the economy of our community. We are committed to sustaining the effort, and we are thankful to the GEM Program for making it all possible," says Kakim Zarudin, a former MNLF commander who now helps his former comrades manage their vegetable ventures.

With increased incomes, MMPC members managed to build hollow block houses with galvanized iron sheet roofs and could afford to pay school fees for their children. The success of the Polomolok cooperative has motivated other corn farmers in nearby municipalities to diversify into high-value crops.