A World Bank (WB)-funded rice and corn mill project in Esperanza, a remote town in Agusan del Sur in Mindanao, has benefited residents and farmers in the area.

Separated from the town proper by the flood-prone Agusan River and bad roads, residents of this poor farming village are dependent on the production of corn, rice and wood products for their sustenance and livelihood.

The rice and corn mill cost P1.78 million to build. The Kalahi-CIDSS program implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and supported by the World Bank, provided a grant of P1.25 million, with the local government and the community making their own counterpart contributions in cash and in kind.

Until a year ago, getting corn and palay properly milled required huge expenses and herculean effort, a burden which usually fell on the shoulders of women. Residents had to take a motorcycle used as a mountain taxi, paying the driver P20 for every sack of palay brought to the river bank in Hawilian. From there, they paid another P40 for every sack ferried by boatmen across the river, and then another P15 per sack to drive it to the mill in Esperanza by tricycle.