“NCotabato officials declare state of calamity due to flood damage…caused millions worth of damage to crops and infrastructure.” This was the headline on the ABS-CBN News online under the regional dated April 29, 2008. Same headline seen in a Local Newspapers like Sunstar davao today (May 1, 2008).
You will read more of these headlines and devastating damages soon if we continue to cut trees, continues land conversion, and continue to ignore the call to protect our soil.
The call to protect soil erosion decades ago are still the call for today. When I was 6 years old, I remember Rev. Harold Watson and Dr. Warlito Laquihon advocating sustainable agriculture in uplands and urging all to restore the degraded soil by using Sloping Agricultural Land Technology. In 2004, I myself was calling to help prevent soil erosion during the Vegetable Congress sponsored by VICSMin in Davao City. Today, I believe the same call I pose to all Filipinos.
Pardon my words but what recently happened in Cotabato is an effect of ill planning in sustainable land use and continued ignorance in soil conservation and environmental protection. I see hills with more than 40 degrees slope used without any soil erosion control for vegetables, corn and even sugarcane farming. Likewise, uplands in Cotabato, Davao, and Bukidnon, are vastly converted to plantation crops like banana, sugarcane, and pineapple (later will include jathropa) without any soil erosion measures but rather large canals for irrigation and drainage. As a result, we are experiencing flash floods.
It seems we have not learned at all from the tragedy of Leyte to the damages in Cotabato lately. Does our government have interventions or political will to protect damages in uplands and low land areas? Should the agencies like DENR and DA look into this? Should we wait for more damages? What can you do?
I wish to call the attention of all government officials, all agencies concerned, academe, NGOs, civic sector, farmers, friends and you. Let’s not wait for another tragedy and more damages to come, act now.
I wish I could help more by sharing my knowledge in agriculture, for today, I just wrote this article to start the journey of protecting our life. If you think you can make a difference, let join hands and think of a better way. Share this to a friend.
Showing posts with label sustainable. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sustainable. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
YOU’RE LOSING YOUR SOIL!
Davao, Philippines - Sloping Agricultural Land Technology (SALT ) proved to effectively reduced soil erosion over other systems. This was revealed through the conduct of a 8-year study (1997-2004) on different soil conservation measures at Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center (MBRLC) in Kinuskusan, Bansalan, Davao del Sur, Philippines.
Results revealed that SALT and vetiver grass had effectively reduced the soil loss of about half ton/ha/yr and 1.5 tons/ha/yr, respectively. On comparison, there is a remarkable soil loss in rockwall (32.40 tons/ha/year
) when compared to other treatments. Terrace and natural barrier had lesser erosion rates of 5.13 and 6.22 tons/ha/year, respectively.
A cement catchment were established at the lowest portion of the hillside. Eroded soil that were trapped in the cement catchment were collected and weighed after every significant rain.
The result suggests’ that the farmers can effectively use SALT and vetiver grass to prevent losing the precious top soil. The disadvantages seen using vetiver grass are: it consumes higher space requirement thus lesser area for productive crops and since its a grass, it competes with corn on nutrient uptake.
According to Warlito A. Laquihon and Harold Ray Watson, former Associate Director & Director of MBRLC respectively, "The price of soil loss is poverty, but we have seen land restored to a reasonable level of productivity by using SALT”
Let’s not wait and get the price of poverty. Instead, adopt SALT now and get the price of sustainable productivity. - jxysl
Results revealed that SALT and vetiver grass had effectively reduced the soil loss of about half ton/ha/yr and 1.5 tons/ha/yr, respectively. On comparison, there is a remarkable soil loss in rockwall (32.40 tons/ha/year
) when compared to other treatments. Terrace and natural barrier had lesser erosion rates of 5.13 and 6.22 tons/ha/year, respectively. A cement catchment were established at the lowest portion of the hillside. Eroded soil that were trapped in the cement catchment were collected and weighed after every significant rain.
The result suggests’ that the farmers can effectively use SALT and vetiver grass to prevent losing the precious top soil. The disadvantages seen using vetiver grass are: it consumes higher space requirement thus lesser area for productive crops and since its a grass, it competes with corn on nutrient uptake.
According to Warlito A. Laquihon and Harold Ray Watson, former Associate Director & Director of MBRLC respectively, "The price of soil loss is poverty, but we have seen land restored to a reasonable level of productivity by using SALT”
Let’s not wait and get the price of poverty. Instead, adopt SALT now and get the price of sustainable productivity. - jxysl
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Sustaining Agriculture Productivity - The Mindanao way
"My last harvest is losing...I was not able to buy fertilizer on time. I need additional capital for the next cropping cycle. Can you help me?" said Mang Erning. I asked him "Is there any alternative?" He answered "The cost of fertilizer and pesticide are high. I wont be able to get a good harvest without it."
Every farmers concern is to increase productivity and its concept of increasing productivity is through the use of modern technology that often requires higher inputs such as fertilizer, pesticides, and irrigation.
Nowadays, technologies are being reconsidered as to whether they are the best method for sustainable agriculture since high inputs tends to cause environmental degradation and the risk of using synthetic fertilizer or pesticides to human health. According to an expert from Sri Lanka, Ranjith Senaratne, “modern agriculture, though highly productive, is not sustainable; it demands heavy inputs…which account for a sizable proportion of the cost of production.”
There is an alternative to this problem! We can reduce the cost of production cost by using scientific advances, promising traditional practices and indigenous knowledge such as Natural Farming Technology!
Mang Erning said "Is that so? How do I do that?" I said "better come with me and let visit a farm nearby and let me show you how they do their farm. We visited the Mountain Integrated Development And Stewardship (MIDAS). We met Dr. Warlito A. Laquihon, one of the founders of Sloping Agriculture Land Technology and an advocate of sustainable agriculture. He explained to us the concept of Sustainable Agriculture using available available materials around such as animal manure, herbal plants, leguminous shrubs and fruits.
The use of Indigenous Micro-organism (IMO), Fermented Fruit Juices (FFJ), Fermented Plant Juice (FFJ), and Organic Herbal Nutrient are few of the farm inputs that can be used among array of alternative. I showed mang Erning how to make these and he got the concept! He will used it for his crops as well as animals.
Mang Erning went home happy and satisfied. He said "Thank you for helping me." I said "My pleasure. Please impart this knowledge to your neighbors."
We will be happy to help you too. If you are interested you may contact us at 63.82.303.3502 or 63.920.868.8862
Every farmers concern is to increase productivity and its concept of increasing productivity is through the use of modern technology that often requires higher inputs such as fertilizer, pesticides, and irrigation.
Nowadays, technologies are being reconsidered as to whether they are the best method for sustainable agriculture since high inputs tends to cause environmental degradation and the risk of using synthetic fertilizer or pesticides to human health. According to an expert from Sri Lanka, Ranjith Senaratne, “modern agriculture, though highly productive, is not sustainable; it demands heavy inputs…which account for a sizable proportion of the cost of production.”
There is an alternative to this problem! We can reduce the cost of production cost by using scientific advances, promising traditional practices and indigenous knowledge such as Natural Farming Technology!
Mang Erning said "Is that so? How do I do that?" I said "better come with me and let visit a farm nearby and let me show you how they do their farm. We visited the Mountain Integrated Development And Stewardship (MIDAS). We met Dr. Warlito A. Laquihon, one of the founders of Sloping Agriculture Land Technology and an advocate of sustainable agriculture. He explained to us the concept of Sustainable Agriculture using available available materials around such as animal manure, herbal plants, leguminous shrubs and fruits.
The use of Indigenous Micro-organism (IMO), Fermented Fruit Juices (FFJ), Fermented Plant Juice (FFJ), and Organic Herbal Nutrient are few of the farm inputs that can be used among array of alternative. I showed mang Erning how to make these and he got the concept! He will used it for his crops as well as animals.
Mang Erning went home happy and satisfied. He said "Thank you for helping me." I said "My pleasure. Please impart this knowledge to your neighbors."
We will be happy to help you too. If you are interested you may contact us at 63.82.303.3502 or 63.920.868.8862
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