Peanut butter empowers women in the Philippines

By Paul Jeffrey

Published in response magazine in 2023

When the women in Banaybanay get together to make peanut butter, they don’t simply process a few ingredients to produce something to sell. In their small town on the Philippines island of Mindanao, making peanut butter has become empowerment.

“When they know they’re going to make peanut butter, the night before they prepare themselves. They’re excited because they’re going to see each other again. When they are stressed at home, making peanut butter as a group is destressing. You escape from all the stress in your life,” said the Rev. Theresa Eleanor Barrientos, pastor of the Banaybanay United Methodist Church.

A handful of women in the congregation started making peanut butter in 2018, following the recipe of one group member that includes mixing sugar and butter with freshly roasted peanuts. They liked its flavor, and, more importantly, so did their friends and neighbors, so they started selling it at a small profit to raise money for their local unit of United Women in Faith.

It was a complicated process at first. Just to grind the peanuts, they had to hire a motorcycle taxi and travel to a village 15 miles away. By the time they’d paid for transportation and grinding, their profits were greatly reduced. Yet what little they made from selling to their neighbors and friends they deposited in a group account. As the small profits piled up, they used some of the money to attend nearby district and conference United Women in Faith gatherings. And they always took along a few jars of peanut butter to sell. The Rev. Erlincy Cayod-Ong, a pastor in Davao, bought a jar and loved it. She told Emma Cantor, a deaconess who serves as the United Women in Faith regional missionary, about the group.

Cantor, a self-confessed peanut butter lover, began conversations with the group in 2020. She soon delivered a small electric grinder to the group, along with $100 in capital.

No longer needing to grind their peanuts elsewhere, the women set up their operation on the patio of the church. As their profits improved, they increased their participation in outside activities. They went on a two-day retreat together, with Cantor and Rev. Cayod-Ong providing training in leadership skills. An accountant came and gave them classes in accounting and bookkeeping.

None of the women in the group has much income. Two have small sari-sari stores in the front of their homes where they sell things like toothpaste, salt, and small bags of rice or beans. One is a retired teacher with a small pension. Another is a neighborhood health work who makes the equivalent of $10 a month. Most have no income of their own and depend on their farmer husbands.

“And the farmers here only earn money when they harvest. Before harvest the families are usually in financial crisis. Money is hard. Most women here only have money to spend during the harvest. Once the harvest is past, they replant and money soon becomes scarce again. And they wait for the next harvest,” said the Rev. Barrientos.

Yet the pastor says the women have been clear that they’re not selling peanut butter to make money for themselves, but rather to finance their activities as a church group. They do benefit individually, she says, by making something everyone enjoys.

“Making peanut butter is tiring, but it’s fun. And it’s something they’re very good at. They have pride in doing something well, and that contributes to a real inner strength. This is more than economic empowerment. We’re developing their leadership skills, helping them be more confident. Before we made peanut butter, only a few of them exercised real leadership in the church or the community. Now they’ve changed,” she said.

“We are providing a nutritious product to the community but probably having too much fun in the process,” said participant Marilou Ijares.

While the Covid-19 pandemic brought their operations to a halt for several months, they emerged from the lockdowns with increased production and more ambitious dreams. United Women in Faith gave them a grant to build a small one-room shed at the church where they can keep their grinder and store their finished product. And they’ve begun the process of registration with the government’s Department of Trade and Industry. Once that’s approved, buyers will have more confidence the product is safe, and the women can sell their jars of peanut butter in supermarkets and malls.

They’ve been offered a vacant farm field to grow their own peanuts, and they’re discussing the purchase of a second grinder. If they get a larger grinder, they could diversify, processing rice, for example, to make and sell rice cakes. And they could provide a service to others in the community who’d no longer have to make the trek to a neighboring town to grind their rice or coffee. As they hope the project’s income will increase, they’re talking about providing educational scholarships for poor youth in the community.

The Rev. Barrientos says the women’s husbands have been supportive of the project, and quickly show up when their help is needed. A couple of them have helped maintain the grinder, for example, keeping it running when it has overheated.

“They don’t complain that their wives come home smelling like smelling like peanut butter. Who knows, maybe they find it attractive,” she said.

Paul Jeffrey is a photojournalist who has covered the work of United Women in Faith for decades. He lives in Oregon.