Farming for peace

Last Thursday marked New Zealand’s national day, Waitangi Day. Our nation’s founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi, was signed on 6 February 1840 and embodies the partnership between the Maori people of New Zealand and the Government.

The Treaty established a framework for government and the settlement of New Zealand. As New Zealand’s head of state, Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae stated last week in his annual Waitangi Day address, the European settlers and Maori had many motives for choosing to build a relationship together. For many, they were seeking that most fundamental of human needs — hope for a future where they and their families could prosper and live in peace. New Zealand was regarded as a lawless place before the signing of the Treaty.

The comments by Sir Jerry, a former soldier and Chief of the New Zealand Defence Force, prompted me to reflect on the recent conclusion of a peace negotiations between the Philippine Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. This is a momentous achievement, for which leaders on both sides deserve much credit, but there remains still much work ahead for peace to endure in Mindanao.

As the international community asks itself how it can support the peace process, one critical element is the creation of economic opportunities for affected communities, including members of the MILF itself.

Recently, as the peace negotiations were reaching conclusion in Kuala Lumpur, I visited rural Maguindanao. Three years ago, the New Zealand Government entered into a project in partnership with the UN FAO and the Department of Agriculture for the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao to support agricultural livelihoods in 17 municipalities in Maguindanao.

If the economy of Mindanao is one day to thrive, then much as in other parts of the Philippines, agriculture must be a part of the answer. Agriculture is the lifeblood of rural areas, where around half of the national population resides. The Maguindanao agriculture project aims to help resettle those communities displaced by armed conflict and, in some cases, also flooding.

With New Zealand’s funding, local FAO staff have distributed tools, seeds and fertilizer to families in rural Maguindanao and, in partnership with other local agencies — including the Department of Agriculture in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) — taught basic agriculture skills so that farmers might make a better living.

In the municipality of Mamasapano, we were shown how farmers had been helped to plant rice, corn, and even mushrooms to earn income. The project has distributed seeds for five different rice varieties, including higher value black and brown rice. For a local women’s cooperative, the propagation of mushrooms, which harvest within two weeks of planting, can be an effective way to earn income. For each P200 invested in materials and inputs, P750 is typically generated.

If there was one sentiment that will long stay with me from my visit to Maguindanao province then, it was the resounding support among ordinary citizens for a peaceful existence. This is surely a desire shared by people the world over, and across generations, from the early days of New Zealand settlement to present-day Mindanao.

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(Reuben Levermore is the Ambassador of New Zealand.)