After the fun it's on the road again

An early morning visit to some backyard farms milking carabao.

The Hotel hostess with the mostess! Noime is a most gracious hostess but this time it was her turn to be on the receiving end.

After a guessing game for the ladies, the MC asked each team to appoint a male...possibly the largest male on the team. It was pretty obvious after a few minutes what she was up to...you should try sucking down 4 ounces of ice tea in 2 minutes. But the big guy did win.

It's not all work and no play

We were invited to a baby shower at the hotel we were staying in Santiago City, Isabela. Our friend Noime Liangco owns this hotel we have the honour of being her guests whenever we are in Southern Isabela. About one month ago she and her husband had the opportunity to adopt a baby that had been abandoned. The hotel staff decided to give her a baby shower and of course we were invited as well.

This a view of the 'Low Cost Housing' discussed earlier. Potential inhabitants apply and provide the labour to erect their home and receive it gratis from the municipality through a national government program. Ten units have been built here and further 90 are projected for the future on a 3 hectare donated property. When residents move in they are encouraged to grow a vegetable garden as well as keeping a few goats.

And of course there has to be a group picture.

Our Assessment Travels - Week 5

This is one of the municipal presentations. Usually the Mayor and some staff are present as well as a number of interested farmers and ranchers to listen to our presentation and a further Q & A session. This is followed by a tour of the community viewing some of the local attributes of agriculture and municipal initiatives. Upon the conclusion of this week we will have visited 11 municipalities as well as the state university and a ranchers co-op. We will then provide a report to the Provincial Government recommending next steps.
The biggest challenge will be getting some indivduals willing to take that first big leap of faith into a new business. The most often asked questions are of financing and where they can source dairy cattle. Dairy cattle in this country are very scarce and most dairy farms in other areas are in an expansion mode Most of the potential entrepreneurs do have some finances but seem not to understand that a sound business plan will go a long way to source additional financing and even some government grants. I hope to meet with some financial institutions soon to develop a dairy relationship and business plan requirements.