Manila, Philippines - Citi Philippines, together with Gawad Kalinga Community Development Foundation Inc. (GK) recently held a harvest festival at the GK Pueblo Antonio Village in Catigan, Davao City. Over 100 GK beneficiaries, including GK workers, local corporate partners, local government officials and Citi volunteers celebrated the harvest of the community’s yam crops that will serve as a source of sustainable livelihood for the GK community.
The yam harvest marks the culminating activity of Citi Philippines’ support of GK’s BayanAnihan program, which aims to provide GK residents based in rural areas with a sustainable source of livelihood through value-chain enterprise development. Funded by Citi Foundation, the Citi-BayanAnihan program in Davao taught commercial farming techniques and the basics of entrepreneurship to 70 beneficiary families. A portion of the harvest yield was then sold to a processing plant that will transform the harvest into inputs for yam flavored ice cream.
The harvest was able to fetch over P100,000 worth of yield for the community, which they will use to invest in additional seedlings that will be planted in four hectares of land adjacent to the community.