LOCAL PARTNER: Lambangian Peoples’ Organization
Background and objective:
Traditionally the Lambangian people derive their sustenance from their forests, rivers, and in their sulagad. Sulagad is a traditional complex agro-forestry system which combines different perennial trees, with short term crops such as corn, rice, bananas, vegetables, rootcrops, others. But these practices have gradually eroded and been slowly abandoned through the years, as commercial farming made inroads in the Lambangian Territory . The project is being proposed with the goals to enhance peoples capacity to manage and control their food production systems through retrieval of their traditional seeds and food crops, restoring and developing their traditional farming system – the sulagad and to strengthen indigenous knowledge practices and systems on resource management and associated culture and values towards increased food sufficiency and income of the people.
Increased knowledge and skills of community members and enabled them to establish the community nursery, 3 learning sites in three communal farms and enhanced 1 demonstration farm that was previously set up; Mobilized community to do reforestation. Increased numbers of community member shifting into organic farming from using synthetic chemical in farming. And they became advocate of the natural farming system (SULAGAD)
Local partner information:
The Lambangian people are traditionally organized as clan and carry their indigenous socio-political structure . The governing body is Kefeduan, composed of 14 leaders (7women and 7 men), is mainly involved in conflict resolution using indigenous justice systems and governance. In 2018, they decided to apply for formal recognition of their organization. Thus was born the Lambangian Peoples’ Organization with a mission to strengthen indigenous environmental management, revive of traditional plant varieties, and strengthen traditional farming practices and resources management through collective work of the community. They plan to achieve this mission through documentation of indigenous resource management, propagation of traditional crops, reforestation, and piloting the sulagad revival through collective action and awareness raising.
