A warrior who puts on the armor of fortitude and wisdom is one to overcome great battles.

In a far-flung area in Cadiz, Negros Occidental, Corazon Badie soldiers on a daily fight as she transports her milk produce from their dairy farm to the pick-up and drop-off point, which is some 2 kilometers of rugged terrain. The narrow and informal road, which looked like a furrow in the middle of a sugarcane plantation, is what the Badies have to traverse every day to attend to their daily errands. On rainy days, the road becomes a total ordeal.  

The place was where Corazon and her husband raised a family where they had six children. The couple used to work as laborers in the plantation for manual weeding with a meager PHP100 pay for their piecework. 

“That was a drudging work to do, especially that we have to be exposed to the scorching sun to finish our work or we won’t bring home any penny,” Corazon reminisced with teary eyes.   

Their impoverished life back then made it impossible for the couple to fulfill their dream of providing their children with the best life. Their measly income could not even cover their basic daily needs. And with no one to tide them over, Corazon knew that she had to do something for the family.  

Hardships did not hinder Corazon to persevere for her family. She prayed and held firmly onto the hope that they will not stay poor. She knew, someday her sacrifices will pay off.

That was when their family became one of the recipients of the Dairy Buffalo Livelihood Project under the Department of Social Welfare and Development-Sustainable Livelihood Program (DSWD-SLP). They were entrusted with eight dairy buffaloes and that was also when they met DA-PCC at LCSF through Michael Anotado, a Project Development Officer II of DSWD.

To the Badies, the project freed their lives from being strapped. Now that they have entered into the dairy business, they do not just look after each other but after the dairy carabaos that were entrusted to them as well.  This means each member of the family is now assigned a role in the business. 

As their venture grew, the Badies also experienced growing pains as in any case of starting a new business. Misfortunes befell the family but Corazon saw these as a test of their mettle in dairying. Corazon’s husband once fell from riding a buffalo and sustained an injury. This hindered him from helping Corazon on the farm. They also experienced the death of a calf which they considered a big loss as the buffaloes are like family to them. 

Despite being wounded in their own kind of battle, the Badies carried on the fight and are now reaping the benefits of their perseverance after two years. The couple can now fully support the education of their children and have more than enough for their daily needs. Their house, which used to be a shanty, is now standing on the concrete pavement with steel roofing. In fact, even their dairy buffaloes have a decent coral and a large pasture area. The family was also able to invest in a multi-cab and motorcycles. 
During the peak of lactation, the buffaloes produce at least 60 liters of raw milk per week sold at PHP90 per liter in Silay City. This gives the Badies a weekly income of PHP5,400, a significant leap from their PHP500-700 take-home pay as laborers on the plantation.

As a family that trudged on together to prosper their newfound venture in dairy buffalo production, the Badies demonstrated that teamwork and faithfulness to steward what was entrusted to them are what made them win one battle to another and have blessed them with great favors.

The Badies, named as DA-PCC’s “Most Outstanding Family Module” in 2019, proved that a triumphant cry of victory is only for the fearless.

Many people believe that the buffalo is precious. I searched and looked for it, then I discovered buffalo dairying. Now, I can also prove that, truly, there’s treasure in raising a buffalo if you patiently wait for it to milk. I am grateful since it helped me fulfill my dreams for my family.