Inspiring women: the story of Nang Lydia Macaya

Lydia Macaya is only 35 years old but already she is addressed with the respectful 'Nang' before her name. Nang Lydia is a community leader, rice breeder and trainer in organic agriculture. On her ½ ha plot she is developing a new strain of pest resistant, high yielding, locally adapted rice. She is also testing a new method of growing organic rice, trialing 60 different varieties, and growing enough food to feed herself and her extended family. Nang Lydia travels throughout the island of Panay and to different islands in the Philippines to give training to other small farmers on breeding and sustainable agriculture. All this from a woman who was forced to leave school at 12 years old because her family did not think she could use an education.

Nang Lydia was born in the isolated mountain village of Dao in the Philippines. The community has no electricity or telephones and is not accessible by road during the wet months of the year. As a child, life was not easy and she had to shoulder her share of responsibility for the family from a young age. She saw education as a way to make a better life for herself and her family but, unfortunately, she was not given the opportunity to go to high school.

"During elementary school, I would wake up at 4am to prepare breakfast, to do some weeding on the farm, feed the animals and gather firewood and vegetables to give to the family to eat. I would leave to go to school at 6am. It was a two and a half kilometer walk through the mountains that would take about an hour. During that time, I was so eager to go to school, even if there was a typhoon or lots of rain I would want to go. I had to miss days sometimes if my parents asked me to do something like baby-sit my younger sisters and brothers or to take the carabao out to the farm to let it eat grass. Also we were the ones who did the plowing, so on plowing time we also had to miss school."

She left school after elementary because her parents would not let her continue. "I had to help out the family and my parents thought it would be a waste for me to get more education," she said. "They thought I would just get married and be of no more help to the family." In addition to continuing her schooling, Lydia wanted to manage their farm but for the time being she needed to go to work to help support the family. Nang Lydia went to Manila in 1988 to look for a job. She especially wanted to make sure her younger sisters had the opportunity to finish high school and college. In 1994, after her younger sister had finished high school, she moved back to the community and began working on the farm. It had long been her dream to come back to the community. "It was my will to work on the farm," explains Lydia.

In the Philippines it is unusual for the farm to be managed primarily by a woman. Although
women play a major role in agriculture, mostly as unpaid family workers or self-employed farmers, they rarely hold the ultimate authority on the farm. Women's work managing budgets, ensuring food security for the family and planting, weeding, harvesting, threshing and processing, and are critical but often unrecognized.

For many years, women have been sidelined by official agricultural extension programs and other farming programs. When chemical farming and high yielding varieties came to the villages, they were based on western assumptions about women. The assumption was that women are housewives and therefore the major services extended to them have been through home management technicians and Rural Improvement Clubs. As men got access to new knowledge not available to women, their decision-making power on the farm increased.

Nang Lydia explains that when a farm is planted ½ to MASIPAG and ½ to conventional high-input agriculture it is almost invariably the woman who is behind the MASIPAG. "This is because if the husband was behind the MASIPAG, the whole farm would be planted to it because he has the say. If it is the wife, she has to negotiate and the husband may let her trial it on some portion of the land. But it usually only stays like that for a season or two. Eventually it gets resolved and the whole farm goes to MASIPAG."

MASIPAG organizers try to ensure that their programs ensure the full participation and empowerment of women and that women's contribution to the farm is recognized and supported. In Nang Lydia there is a gentle determination and enthusiasm that transcends ordinary boundaries. Supported by MASIPAG, her courage and vision has allowed her to become a leader, trainer, organizer and farmer-scientist in her own right.

Nang Lydia started using MASIPAG seeds in 1997 when she was given some seeds to try by the MASIPAG organizer Joemarie who was at that time working for the outreach unit of a local college. At this stage she didn't realize that the seeds were part of a broader farming system, supported by the MASIPAG organization, or that adoption of the seeds would lead to a new life.

At first her family, and the rest of the village, couldn't accept that she was using the MASIPAG technique. "They thought that it was the work of crazy people," said Nang Lydia. "For example, in the trial farm period, I planted out the farm with 20 varieties all in small patches in order to test which were the most locally adapted and pest resistant." This was a big risk to take considering she only have ½ ha to grow enough rice and vegetables for the whole family for a year.

Nang Lydia said, "It was difficult but ultimately I didn't care what people said. As long as it would benefit my family and the community in the long run. That is all I cared about." Although she was ridiculed at first, the community kept a close eye on Nang Lydia's output and, when they liked what they saw, they too began to use MASIPAG. Now in Nang Lydia's village of Dao with 78 households, 24 grow organically using the MASIPAG technique, and the method has spread throughout the area with adapters in all seven nearby villages that make up the Seven Cities area. Nang Lydia's sister, Estilita, speaks highly of the change, "We would be nothing without it. It makes us feel informed and empowered. We have had access to new information, met different people and learned so much. Nang Lydia even went to a conference of small farmers in the United States."

The Macaya family has ½ ha of land. ¼ of it is planted to rice and ¼ to a diversity of vegetables. "MASIPAG has big impact on the family because it reduces expenses and leads to a healthier life," she says. The family has not experienced a food shortage for many years now because they can grow three crop rotations in one year and they have cut expenses. Most families cannot afford the cost of inputs such as fertilizer and pesticide and MASIPAG is valued because it reduces crippling costs that lead to debt and to hunger. The positive health impacts of the organic rice, and the organic methods of farming are also highly valued.

"Since I started growing organically, the sickness in the family has gone down so much. Before we had more colds and flu, headaches and my grandmother had arthritis. We often had to go to the hospital. Now these problems have nearly gone away."

After her initial successes growing MASIPAG, Nang Lydia began to get more involved in the organization and expanded her role to become a trainer and a breeder. In the community she is looked at with respect as a leader. The training work allows her to spread the news about the benefits of organic farming and MASIPAG to other farmers. She has conducted trainings on basic orientation on sustainable agriculture, rice breeding, corn selection, corn breeding, trainers training, and Masipag orientation.

"I enjoy conducting trainings because I like to empower fellow small farmers. At first I felt shy but now I enjoy it if I can give some benefits to others."

Two years ago, Nang Lydia also started breeding. She is breeding a new variety for MASIPAG, M143-1. Her new variety will have increased resistance to pests, increased length of seeds, increased number of tillers, be well adapted to the local soil and of a medium height. She is also breeding it for eating quality and aiming for a tasty variety with a good aroma. She is up to the fifth generation and variety will be soon ready for mass production. Nang Lydia enjoys the breeding, it helps with self esteem especially when the breeding process succeeds.

"I breed to increase the number of seeds that are available," says Nang Lydia. "It increases diversity and also means I am looking after the welfare of MASIPAG. I enjoy seeing the success of the effort I have put in. It is a good feeling to create something new, something that helps out MASIPAG as well as hopefully other farmers."

Nang Lydia currently grows 60 different varieties of rice in her trial farm which she uses for ongoing experiments checking adaptability and other characteristics of the different varieties.

Throughout the world, rural women historically have played, and continue to play an important role in rice farming systems. Women's role, however, is often viewed as a support role and their contributions are sidelined. Worse, the agricultural support and extension services offered, often exacerbate gender inequality. Nang Lydia is an example of the enormous contribution that can be made by women if their knowledge is recognized and supported. Although not given the option of going to high school, the training and knowledge she has acquired through her years of farming and with the help of MASIPAG have allowed her to make a significant contribution to her community and to other farmers in the region. Even her father now recognizes that he should have allowed Nang Lydia to go to school.

"I'd like to thank the German people for giving their support to the MASIPAG program," says Nang Lydia. "I want them to know that our lives have changed for the better, and the community is a healthier and improved place. It has a good effect on the lives of the people and I have gained knowledge that I have been able to share with other farmers and the community."

The story is written by Dr. Sarah Wright in 2004 for the MISEROER Lenten Campaign in Germany.