Philippines – Page 124 – Goducate … Go And Educate!

2010-05-262010-05-26

Goducate training center site report (4)

5. Practice selective logging and regular pruning of trees. Some of the standing mahogany trees should be harvested for lumbering. The felled trees can be used later on for housing construction and furniture after kiln-drying or natural air drying and treated against wood pests.

Malformed trees should be removed to improve the stand of the trees but replanting should be done. As also observed, the branches of the mahogany trees should be pruned as mutual shading reduces the photosynthetic potential of smaller trees, thereby slowing their growth. The pruned branches can be used for fuel wood and charcoal.

6. Put up a nursery for seedlings. An area should be identified for a nursery. If possible, a greenhouse should be a component of the nursery. It can be an improvised structure constructed from mahogany saplings, bamboos, and plastic screens. The seedlings of vegetables and other cash crops are very vulnerable to pathogens, pests, and diseases. Having a nursery will help in crop caring activities.

7.Acquire basic tools and equipment. Some of the essential basic tools for the agri-projects are hoes, spade, rakes, pruning shears, knives, grasscutters, sprayers, and a chain saw if possible. For the integrated farming system, land preparation will require a power tiller and even a carabao but these can be rented from the adjacent farms. A mechanical tresher and winnower can likewise be rented whenever necessary.

8.Warehouse for farm supplies and equipment. This should also be made available to protect inputs and equipment from getting exposed to natural weather.

9.Explore the possibility of using solar energy and wind turbine. The cost of a 300-sq ft photovoltaic panels to generate 22,100 KWH/year is about $50,000 (much lower if self-installed). With a life expectancy of 30 years, however, the cost per kilowatt is only $0.075 or P3.31 per kilowatt. That is relatively cheaper than ILECO-1’s rate of about P11.00 per KWH. On the other hand, wind turbines under 100 kilowatts cost roughly $3,000 to $5,000 per kilowatt of capacity. That means a 10 kilowatt machine (the size needed to power an average home) might cost $35,000-$50,000. Something to think about.

2010-05-242010-05-25

Goducate training center site report (3)

1.Construct a water impounding project. To ensure adequate water supply throughout the year for agricultural needs, a 2,500 sq m area (or even larger) should be set aside at the uppermost agricultural portion of the area for a water catchment or impounding project. Aside from its agricultural essence, the stored water may have multiple uses for aquaculture, fishing, boating, and power generation through a mini-hydro-electric plant.

Renting of a backhoe from a quarry site nearby should be negotiated soonest so that soil excavation can proceed before the onset of the rainy season. Detailed technical and partial budget studies, however, should be done prior to digging in order to establish the proper depth, lining design (to prevent seepage), and project costs and benefits.

2. Construct a deep well and pressure tank for domestic needs. The two wells in the campsite, if improved and sealed properly, are potential sources of water for drinking, washing, and bathing. Presently, these wells are exposed to contaminants like nitrates and residual pesticides because of proximity to the ricefields. The best location of a separate deep well should be at the upper agricultural portion to ensure safe drinking water. Pipelines can be installed later for water distribution. If the housing and support facilities are at the downstream, there will be no need for a pressure tank since water supply can be piped down gravitationally.

3. Develop the paddy plots for an Integrated (rice-Based Farming System. An Integrated Farming System (IFS) is one that consists of diversified farming enterprises. The central purpose is to minimize risks and uncertainty in farming, raise farm productivity and income, and generate additional-on farm employment. An integrated system, however, leads to indiscriminate use of inputs which, if indiscriminately used, may result in degradation of the physical environment and poisoning of human, wildlife, and aquatic species.

The IFS component should include rice as the main crop with the following as supplementary activities: bio intensive gardening (BIG), poultry (preferably native) and swine production, tilapia raising, and forest and fruit tree planting. Seeds approved by the National Industry Seed Council (preferably hybrid varieties) should be planted because of their high-yield potentials. The existing cropping pattern can be modified into Rice-Rice-Upland Crop. The Upland crop could be sweet corn, watermelon, mungbean or any legume.
Development of the paddy plots will entail not only repairing and strengthening of the dikes but also providing big and deep drainage canals at the peripheral portions of the ricefields. This will prevent the seepage or runoff of water from one paddy plot to another, thereby losing the applied fertilizers or other inputs in specific plots.

For crop logging purposes, each paddy plot should be measured for actual area so that the application of the right dosage of the specific input is made. Also, accurate record of yield from each plot will be yardstick for adjustment of inputs to be applied for the next crops.

4. Adopt the Sloping Agricultural Land Technology (SALT). SALT is a simple, applicable, low-cost, and timely method of farming the uplands. This technology was developed for farmers with small tools, small capital, and little learning in agriculture. In the SALT system, a farmer devotes 60 percent of his upland area to agricultural crops and 40 percent to forest trees.

The steps involve locating and developing contour lines; planting the contour lines with leguminous shrubs and trees such as Glericidia sepium (madre de cacao), Leucaena diversifolia (acid-tolerant ipil-ipil), and Desmodium rensonii; cultivating and planting the strips alternately; planting long-term crops on every third strip and on land borders; planting short-term crops on every first and second strip; trimming the contour hedgerows regularly; rotating food and cash crops (corn, sorghum, tubers like cassava and sweet corn, pineapple, castor bean, bush sitao, and peanuts, and: maintaining the SALT farm by gathering and piling up stalks, twigs, branches, leaves, rocks, and stones at the base of the multi-purpose trees and shrubs. This can result in strong, permanent, naturally green, and beautiful terraces which will reliably anchor the precious soil in the first place.

2010-05-212010-05-25

Goducate training center site report (2)

Visual examination of soil texture shows that it is predominantly sandy loam to sandy clay loam. Combined with the sloping terrain, these make the water retention capacity of the soil rather poor because of high seepage and percolation rates.

The area is rainfed. As mentioned by the caretaker, the cropping pattern had always been Rice-Rice, which means that only two rice crops were grown in the area. For household consumption, however, remnants of squash, alugbati, and mungbean were seen in four paddy plots. Watering of the plants is done by siphoning water through a continuous ½-inch PVC tube with one end immersed into a well.

Another important information elicited from the caretaker was that during the rainy season, so much water would cascade from the hillside into the paddy areas. Since there is no provision for a catchment structure, the runoff water would flood the ricefields and oftentimes caused damage to the standing crop.

There is no power supply in the area since the Iloilo Electric Cooperative I (ILECO 1) transmission line is a bit remote from the site. While energizing the campsite through ILECO 1 is a good option, some non-conventional energy sources should be considered because of their possible scientific and educational relevance. This will be further explained under the topic on recommendations.