Agriculture.ph Blog

Fertilizer solves zinc deficiency in crops

A seaweed-based organic fertilizer which is said to address micronutrient deficiencies, particularly zinc (Zn) deficiency, in rice and other crops was one of the products that farmers should not have missed at the recent Agrilink trade show held at the World Trade Center Metro Manila in Pasay City.

The fertilizer is called MegaZinc Plus, which is claimed to increase rice yield by a minimum of 20 cavans per hectare, increase resistance of rice plants to pest and diseases, increase tillering, induce uniform maturity of grains, and increase milling recovery. It has 1.62% zinc seaweed extracts plus auxins, gibberelins and cytokinins as active ingredients.

Florentino Pangilinan, owner and general manager of Central Luzon Farmers Agro Center in Cabanatuan City, the producer of MegaZinc Plus, said that zincis the most critical micronutrient to rice growth, with Zn deficiency now considered as the third most widespread nutrient disorder in lowland rice areas of Asia, next to nitrogen and phosphorus.

Symptoms of Zn deficiency in rice manifest at 2 to 3 weeks after transplanting. Slight deficiency leads to slight stunting in plant growth and decreased tillering of the rice plant with browning or yellowing of leaves; while very severe deficiency results in the death of the plant. Those that recover will show substantial delay in maturity and reduction in yield by as much as 50 percent.

Agriculture experts say that Zn deficiency can be corrected by adding Zn compounds to the soil or by dipping seedlings in Zn solution before transplanting, but the high cost associated with applying Zn fertilizers in sufficient quantities to address Zn deficiency means additional expenses for poor farmers.

Pangilinan said that using MegaZinc Plus entails only minimal cost to the farmers. One liter of MegaZinc Plus which costs R350 is enough to use for one hectare of ricefield.

MegaZinc Plus is applied at 20 to 45 days after transplanting (DAT) for transplanted rice and at 20 to 50 days after broadcasting for direct-seeded rice, both at a dosage of 10 tablespoons per 16 liter of water.

Pangilinan said that farmers all over the country who have tried MegaZinc Plus on their rice plants have got very good results. One of them is Silverio Almayda of Zaragoza, Nueva Ecija who obtained a yield of 10.96 tons per hectare with the application of MegaZinc Plus at 45 days after transplanting. Farmer cooperator Christopher Luna of Ormoc City also observed increased tillers of rice applied with MegaZinc Plus over that of rice without MegaZinc Plus.

Aside from rice, MegaZinc Plus is recommended for use also on corn, mango, onion, sugarcane, citrus, melon, cucumber, garlic, bush beans, cabbage and pechay.

Written by Melpha Abello

Source: Manila Bulletin

FREE-RANGE CHICKEN SEMINAR

Dr. Rey Itchon of Solraya Enterprises will conduct a seminar of raising free-range Sunshine chickens
on September 7, Monday, at the university auditorium of the Central Luzon State University in Muñoz City, Nueva Ecija. Sunshine chicken is fast becoming popular for growing in the backyard or on the range because it is fast-growing. In just 45 to 60 days, the chicken can weigh 1.2 to 1.5 kilos.

Dr. Itchon is also scheduled to conduct a seminar on raising Sunshine chickens in Bohol on September 21. Email: info@solraya.com for more information.

DA promotes composting as alternative livelihood

PRODUCING organic fertilizer with the help of earthworms can be an alternative livelihood for farmers in Cebu.

The Institutional Development Services (IDS) of the Department of Agriculture said producing organic fertilizer through vermicom-posting does not need a big capital so it is within the reach of farmers.

“Vermicomposting is an alternative to commercial fertilizer, especially now that prices of commercial fertilizers are going up,” said Chris Mangadlo, regional coordinator of farmers associations of the IDS. He noted that the price of commercial fertilizers is about P1,800 per sack.

Aside from finding a market for organic fertilizer, farmers can also use what they produce for their own farm plots.

Vermicomposting is the process of producing organic fertilizer (vermicom-post) from biodegradable materials with the help of earthworms. While biodegradable materials decompose naturally with the help of microorganisms, earthworms speed up the process.

Among the compost-feeding earthworms that can be used, Mangadlo said, the African night crawler is the most suitable for farm production. “These earthworms digest organic matter in their alimentary tract and they produce sanitized, deodorized, and ‘texturized’ humus (castings),” he added.

Mangadlo said the earthworms cost P500 per kilo.

He said the use of compost-feeding earthworms gives additional nutrients to the compost. The vermi-compost or organic fertilizer has 75 percent carbon and 25 percent nitrogen.

“Organic fertilizers, such as vermicompost, have additional micronutrients for the soil while inorganic fertilizers don’t,” he added.

“We put the poor farmers on top of our priority. We want to help them and we found vermicomposting as one of the livelihood activities that we can share with them,” said Teodomiro Luzano, chief of IDS.

The IDS has been conducting trainings on vermi-composting in different areas in Cebu Province.

“Vermicomposting is a good source of income with a small capital,” Mangadlo said. He said that one only needs to invest in hollow blocks or other indigenous materials to build a fence around the compost. Biodegradable materials can come from kitchen wastes and garden rubbish.

Mangadlo said that since the earthworms reproduce, farmers can also sell the creatures to those who are interested in vermicomposting.

“In two months, you will have about three bags of vermicompost which can be sold for P300 per bag and six kilos of earthworms that you can sell for P500 per kilo,” he said. “The return of investment in vermicomposting is really fast.”

Written By Katlene O. Cacho

Source: Sun Star

Natural farming and money

Last week, at the Attracting Wealth Seminar sponsored by the New Life Alabang Christian Center, one of the speakers was Dodong Cacanando of Moriah Farms one of the, if not the biggest lettuce farm in Bukidnon supplying Mcdonalds and KFC. His story is quite amazing, migrating to Bukidnon with his family to plant lettuce when everyone else told him it was not possible. Until recently, all lettuce we ate in the Philippines were mainly imported, as to grow lettuce is quite delicate. To grow them, most used covered nursery to protect the precious leaves from the elements.

When the price of oil shot up last year, and everything else with it, including fertilizers, production
costs went up so high, his profit margins were cut. The cost of fertilizer requirements almost doubled. But he didn’t want to borrow to finance the increased cost of production. He therefore had no choice but to live with what he has in the farm.

This led him to a technology, the natural farming technology of Dr Hans Kyu Cho of Korea, taught locally by Andrey “Less Is More” Lim, Founder/Consultant, Tribal Mission Foundation International Inc. whose passion is to improve the lives of farmers. This new technology is revolutionary since you just leave nature the way it is. For example, no tilling of soil. The key to good plants/vegetables is enriching the soil though beneficial microorganisms, using natural materials (like leaves, grasses and weeds) readily available in the farm. Andrey manages a 30 hectare Helen farm in Davao using
the natural farming way. They have about 800 pigs and they do not smell. Yes, they don’t smell, they don’t even take a bath, so less water, thanks to these beneficial micro organisms.

What is natural farming? It is farming by using natural materials , non chemicals , that promote the growth of beneficial micro organisms in the soil. Don’t feed the plants, feed the soil to have healthy plants. When plants are healthy, like people, they are more resistant to diseases , and will be stronger. So that plants and vegetables we eat will have nutrients for our body. One school of thought why we have more cases of cancer nowadays, affecting even children, is that the food, plants and vegetables we eat no longer have the necessary nutrients we need due to depleted soil.

With Dodongs farming experience, his Bible readings saw a new light from which came out his new business philosophy . For example, he says that from the seed, develops the roots and then the leaves and back to the roots etc. When the plant grows to maturity, it produces a lot of food. What to do with this excess food generated? The plant stores it in a special container we call fruit. And fruiting comes in the proper season, at the right timing. He says , we can’t rush the growth of a tree. Even if we want to and just bombard it with watering and fertilization, when it is not yet time, it just won’t bear fruit. Or if it does, the tendency is for the plant to die at an earlier age.

Just as fruits are the by- product of a healthy plant, it’s the same in a business where money/profit is the by- product of a healthy business. I recall Topax Colayco in the Finex Seminar “Riding through the Crises”, he said, “ the fastest way to get rich is to get rich slowly”. We just can’t rush getting rich or fast forward trees to bear fruits before its time. There will always be repercussions.

Today, Dodong says that his lettuce is growing very well and in the wide open, beating all odds. For when he started in Bukidnon, everyone said he cant grow lettuce . Much more now that he is not using chemical fertilizers. Dodong’s story is just an example of being successful using the natural farming way. I recall being told after knowing that I was an advocate of natural farming, “ I pity you, for it won’t work”. I answered , “on the contrary I sincerely believe it is the answer to our farmers plight, their ability to make their own input requirements and being empowered”. And Dodongs lettuce story is one of the best example as with many others whose lives have changed moving to the natural way of farming.

This natural farming technology is taught locally by Andrey Lim, the 2009 Secretary of Agriculture Awardee for Outstanding Organic Agriculture Initiative (Individual Advocate Category).

Do you want to know more about natural farming, to be healthy and save our environment?

Learn how to enrich your soil using natural materials!

Learn how to make your own fertilizer, insecticide and pesticide from natural sources!

Learn how to make your own feeds using plants and herbs!

Learn how to grow pigs with no bathe and with no smell!

Learn to raise organic free range chicken without the use of artificial heater!

Learn recycling techniques to and turn wastes to good use!

Then Do Not Miss the Natural Gardening and Farming Seminar on October 24!

Sponsored by Finex in cooperation with Flor’s Garden.

The seminar will t be conducted by Andrey Lim at Flor’s Garden in Antipolo.

Please Call Cherry of Finex at 8114052 or 8114187 now! First come first served! Limited seats available.
———————-
On Money:
I like to share these Chinese proverbs. A good reminder to put money in its proper perspective in our life. Money can usually act as “oxygen to our lives”, and certainly has a “calming effect” but it is not the answer to everything.

“Money can buy you a house , but it can’t buy you a home

Money can buy you a clock, but not time

Money can buy you a bed, but it can’t give you sleep or peace of mind

Money can buy you a book, but not knowledge or wisdom

Money can pay for a doctor, but it can’t buy you good health

Money can buy you blood , but it can’t give you life

Money can even buy you rank or position , but not respect

Money can buy you sex but not love”.
——————————-
Ms Tarriela is Chairman of Phil National Bank. She was formerly
Undersecretary of Finance and the first Filipino lady vice president of Citibank N.A.
Written By FLOR G. TARRIELA

Source: Manila Bulletin

Quezon solon wants organic farmers to self-regulate

MANILA—Rep. Proceso Alcala  (Second District, Quezon province) has assuaged small-scale farmers that he will continue to push for self-regulation in organic farming even as he encourages them to eventually embrace “organic-certification standards” in support of government efforts toward organic agriculture.

Alcala is the vice chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture and has proposed an organic-agriculture bill that aims to institutionalize support of organic farming in the country. The bill is now on its second reading.

Public consultations are held nationwide to determine farmers’ position on the issue, according to Alcala. Consultations have already been held in Davao, Bacolod and Quezon City.

Among its salient provisions is the creation of a regulatory body that involves the participation of local government units (LGUs) in certifying that a product meets organic standards.

Another salient provision of the bill is mandating LGUs to promote, produce and distribute “over-the-counter inputs” to farm. This aims to ensure access to products that promote an organic way of life among farmers, particularly organic fertilizer to boost yield, and organic pesticides to control pests and diseases.

Among farmer-leaders reacting to the proposed measure is Jaime Tadeo, spokesman of the “Go Organic! Philippines” consortium, who said “certification standards” may not be encouraging to small-scale farmers and may even be “restrictive” at a time when farmers are still at the crossroads of the campaign for organic farming. Tadeo advocates self-regulation instead.

Alcala said the self-regulation approach is “ideal” where farming is “small,” as in the case of his congressional district encompassing Candelaria, Dolores, Lucena City, San Antonio, Sariaya and Tiaong.

Self-regulation will be more appropriate for now when most farms are just beginning to go organic, he was quoted by the La Liga Policy Institute (LLPI) as saying.

Alcala stressed, however, that certification is “a must” in order to protect consumers and to prevent abusive market operators. It is a foregone conclusion that “more and more farms will eventually go organic” so the market must be protected at the outset, according to Alcala.

Aside from consultations with farmers, the advocacy is tapping funds for schools and scholarships in agriculture and related science careers for children of farmers to create awareness and interest in organic farming.

Go Organic! Philippines is a consortium of nongovernment organizations led by the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement and LLPI. PNA

Source: Business Mirror

Davao agri store goes greener

WITH the environment taking multiple blows from all other industries worldwide and the country’s carbon footprint getting bigger by the minute, one agricultural dealer in Davao holds its ground and decides to even the odds a little bit and go organic all the way.

Tilson Trade, to date, is the only 100 percent agri-organic store in Davao City. Its wide array of fungicide, pesticide, foliar and composted fertilizers is purely organic delivering the same growth quality as its chemical-based counterparts but definitely without the harmful effects to humans, animals and to the general environment — a plus factor the world surely needs in these trying times.

“All our products are sourced out from nature itself, processed and then introduced back to nature as plant boosters among others,” Tilson Trade operations manager Paul Lumbre explained.

Its banner product Pag-Asa Organic Fertilizer, for one, is a product of fish and cow droppings processed under very strict and advanced technology. Once introduced back into the soil, it restores and maintains soil richness to provide necessary nutrients to plants without the environmental trade-offs usually associated with chemical-based fertilizers.

“It’s the microorganisms in our fertilizers that keep the soil as rich as ever. This means lesser re-fertilization within each cycle that translates to bigger profit/yield to our local farmers,” Lumbre said.

Tilson Trade is also the first to innovate its packaging into smaller 2-kg. packs which makes handling easier and the cost more affordable by the local market. These smaller packages are becoming a hit among household fertilizer users who find the standard 50 kg. sacks cumbersome and too costly for gardening use.

It is this marketing savvy that brought its products closer to the city farmers and businessmen alike.

Their products are sold at NCCC Mall Supermarket, Chua’s Orchid Garden inside NCCC Mall, Garden Classic, SM City Mall, Davao Flower Garden and Tiange Village across SM City Mall in Matina.

Tilson Trade holds store at Omnor Building on Buhangin Diversion Road. It is a small, unassuming structure with big dreams of one day making it big in the industry. They take pride in starting local initiatives to promote affordable, sustainable and environment-friendly farming methods. For interested parties Tilson Trade communication lines are open beyond store hours: (082) 302-6563 or 0908-677-9111. (BOT)

Source: Sun Star

Tissue culture boosts Tarlac’s food sufficiency, organic farming

IT’S boom time for agriculture in Tarlac.

The province has recorded the highest yield per hectare in rice and corn production in the region in recent years, simply because it pioneered in adopting modern technology.

The local officials’ target is to help boost food sufficiency.

Now, even academe is providing its share in agricultural modernization. Located in the town of Camiling is the Tarlac College of Agriculture (TCA), which has been at the forefront of tissue-culture technology.

Dr. Ester Mercado, dean of the TCA’s Institute of Agriculture, says this is the reason Tarlac is now a key banana-growing province, particularly the lacatan variety. Today banana plantations have mushroomed in the province because of the propagation of tissue-cultured planting materials.

Although they are now producing several varieties of bananas, including the cardaba (or saba), banana plantations are also emerging as the region’s main source for sweet-potato materials and the more sophisticated macadamia nuts.

She said Tarlac Gov. Victor Yap is personally promoting tissue culture, which incidentally was started in 2005 through the funding facilitated by his father, Rep. Jose Yap, when he was still governor.

Through tissue culture, TCA can produce at least 600 plantlets from one mother plant, compared with the traditional propagation method, which can only produce four suckers in a banana mother plant.

“We find it really worthy,” says Mercado, a horticulturist. Their students are not only motivated; the school has managed to generate much-needed additional income to sustain its research and development (R&D) programs.

For instance, she says the school now sells each macadamia seedling for P1,000. It’s not surprising that small and big landowners have been getting orders, knowing that one kilo of macadamia nuts in the market sells for P1,000.

The college is also providing the link between biotechnology, with its success in tissue culture, and Tarlac’s thrust in promoting organically grown crops.

According to Mercado, to compliment their tissue culture, they have been promoting organic-fertilizer production.

Today they have developed two types of fertilizers: one using beneficial microorganisms or biofertilizers; and the other through vermi-worm composting, which is naturally organic.

Mercado says their tissue-cultured sweet-potato varieties already helped increase the farmers’ yield. Initially, they used their biotech seedlings for their extension programs in the rural towns of Tarlac.

Lately, they are already being flooded by farmers from nearby provinces who have seen how disease-free varieties from the tissue-cultured plants helped increase Tarlac farmers’ yield. Since small farmers are benefiting from this technology, TCA continues to sell its sweet-potato plantlets for as low as 25 centavos per planting material.

Today, she said, Central Luzon’s sweet-potato production has increased by 50 percent due to the propagation of tissue-culture planting materials.

Because of their success in sweet potato, the TCA sweet-potato planting material team, led by Dr. Lilibeth Larangan, was cited in the Pag-Asa Award of the Civil Service Commission (CSC).

The team also included Dr. Ernesto Viray, Dr. Elsa Molina, Dr. Cielito Beltran, Dr. Teresita Navarro, Judith Espiritu, Maria Elena Caguioa, Maribel Ramales, Rizalina Tablarin, Leonell Lijuoco, Celso Torres, Imelda Alegado and Freddie Felix.

The College of Business programs, the income-generating arm of the college, is promoting products such as the production and marketing of tissue-culture seedlings to minimize the farmers’ dependence on commercial-production inputs.

In 2008 the TCA president was given the Pag-asa Award by the CSC for instituting reforms that ensured the prudent use of financial resources and innovative programs that generated additional income for the college.

Written by Joel C. Paredes

Source: Business Mirror

Organic farming is talk of the town

We have been traveling throughout the country the past several months and everywhere we go, everybody seems to be getting into some kind of organic or natural farming. It is the same in Iloilo, Negros, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Rizal, Mindoro, Bohol, Cebu, Leyte, Bicol, Davao, General Santos – everywhere. Farmers are growing crops as well as livestock and poultry the natural farming way.

Even in Metro Manila, interest in natural farming is growing. In fact a group of professionals have asked Andry Lim of Davao City to conduct a seminar on natural farming on August 1 at the Cancio Calma compound in Pasong Tamo, Makati City. He will also conduct a similar one at the Clark Development Zone in Pampanga. Previously, he and wife Joji had been invited to Bicol to conduct similar trainings.

Andry Lim focuses his natural farming on the use of beneficial microorganisms and herbal extracts to nourish his crops as well as his farm animals.

On the other hand, in General Santos City, Capt. James Fos Reamon, a commercial pilot who is doing his own brand of organic farming, uses a lot of vermicast and vermicompost to grow his high-value vegetables. His farm was one of the places visited by attendees of the recent vegetable congress held in General Santos City. He is also the inventor of the prize-winning brewer for making vermi tea used as foliar fertilizer. He reports that a farmer in Nueva Ecija fertilized his 30-hectare rice farm with nothing but vermi tea last year and got an average of 100 cavans per hectare. Total expense for fertilizer was only R2,000 per hectare.

Because of the growing interest in organic farming, we have gathered that Wellington Chanlim who operates a big poultry farm in Bantayan Island and who is into many other businesses has greatly expanded his production of the bio-organic fertilizer Durabloom. Besides his factory in Bantayan, he has put up another big factory in Consolacion. He now has a total production of 60,000 bags of Durabloom per month which are sold to corn planters in Panay island, sugarcane plantations in Mindanao, oil palm plantations in Bohol, Mindanao, Palawan and many other places in the Visayas and Mindanao.

In Mindanao, we gathered that 50 perccent of the rice farmers in Trento, Agusan del Sur, are already into organic farming. Also pushing for organic farming is the Catholic Relief Services based in Mindanao. Recently, it put out a book on Natural Farming Technology Systems in English and Visayan. The processes in making different organic farming inputs are well illustrated. And stories of successful organic farmers are featured in the book.

Written by Zac Sarian

Source: www.mb.com.ph

UP study shows benefits of organic-rice production

AN organic rice-production experiment administered in Baao, Camarines Norte, and Alaminos City, Pangasinan, shows positive signs that sustainable organic practice is feasible and will benefit small farmers, Go Organic! Philippines said in a statement.

Lawyer Efren Moncupa, lead convenor of Go Organic! Philippines, said the study, performed by experts from the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), boosts the government’s go-organic program to convince farmers to veer away from the excessive use of harmful chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

“This means that the Philippines is on the right track in promoting organic farming,” Moncupa, a former agrarian-reform undersecretary, said.

A consortium of nongovernment organizations led by the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement and La Liga Policy Institute, Go Organic! Philippines is aggressively promoting organic farming and is behind the successful implementation of the Organic FIELDS Support Program, under which 600 farmers were trained with various organic-farming systems and technologies in six towns in Luzon, namely, Baao, Camarines Norte; Tabaco, Albay; Naujan, Oriental Mindoro; Guimba, Nueva Ecija; Samal and Dinalupihan, Bataan; and Alaminos City, Pangasinan.

The first phase of the program, which was launched in November last year, officially ended in April.  Phase 2 of the P20-million project is currently in the pipeline.

“All we need to do is to pursue existing programs that promote organic farming,” said Roland Cabigas, managing director of LLPI and a convenor of Go Organic! Philippines.

The study aims to compare the agronomic, economic and yield responses of the system of rice intensification (SRI), farmers’ practice (FP) and balanced fertilization system (BFS) in Baao, Camarines Sur, and Alaminos City, Pangasinan.

The research team, headed by Oscar Zamora, dean of the UPLB graduate school and a professor of the UPLB College of Agriculture, came up with an economic analysis which revealed that organic farming is more feasible and profitable when farmers produce their own organic fertilizers and botanical sprays.

The research was conducted in barangays Tangcarang and Palamis in Alaminos City, Pangasinan, and in barangays Sagrada and Salvacion in Baao, Camarines Sur, in collaboration with the local governments of Alaminos City and the municipality of Baao, and the Camarines Sur State Agricultural College during the dry season from November 2008 to April 2009.  The experiment sought to quantify the performance of SRI, FP and BFS and determine the more sustainable rice-production system in two selected provinces.  Except for barangay Tangcarang, where the experiment was set up in a techno-demo farm, all the three other sites were farmers’ fields.

According to the study, rice production in Baao resulted in a higher number of tillers, percent productive tillers, panicle length, filled grains, 1,000 seed weight, and grain yield with lower costs of production and high return on investment.

The study revealed that rice-yield potential across treatments is higher in Baao than in Alaminos City, because water was not limiting and temperature was lower during the cropping season in Baao than in Alaminos City, the report explained.

Under the conditions in both sites during the experiment, the potential of SRI is higher in Baao than in Alaminos City.

“This indicates that the potential of SRI can be better expressed in areas where water is not a limiting factor and when temperature is low,” the study concluded.

Zamora said the study results are not yet conclusive since the experiment was only done for one season. “The benefits of using organic fertilizer in terms of improving soil characteristics and consequently increasing yield are usually not quantifiable in the first season,” he said.

He suggested that future research-and-development activities of similar nature should be done in actual farmers’ fields to better reflect the realities of actual rice farming.

According to Moncupa, farmers and consumers will benefit greatly in going organic in terms of income, health and environmental protection.

Organic farming makes use of organic fertilizers and pesticides which the farmers themselves can produce from raw materials that can be found in their farms such as rice straw, rice hull and animal manure.

Written by Jonathan L. Mayuga

Source: Business Mirror

NGOs urge govt to promote organic farming

ALARMED by the poor performance of the agriculture sector, a consortium of nongovernment organizations promoting organic farming in the Philippines urged the government to implement programs that will help increase food production to mitigate hunger and help fight poverty in the countryside.

Aside from the different support services that the Department of Agriculture (DA) and Department of Agrarian Reform normally provide to farmers to help boost agricultural production, Efren Moncupa, a lawyer and lead convenor of Go Organic! Philippines, said government programs that offer a lasting solution to farmers’ woes should be prioritized.

In particular, he said the DA should promote sustainable agriculture through organic farming, which does not only promote sustainable agriculture, but helps fight global warming and climate change.

To start with, organic farming does not require big capital, said Moncupa, a former agrarian-reform undersecretary.  It actually helps reduce greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions, he said.  GHG is a major contributor to global warming.  Agriculture contributes 30 percent to the total GHG emitted into the atmosphere.

According to Moncupa, organic farming is key to sustainable agriculture, as it helps farmers veer away from the excessive use of chemical fertilizers.

Organic farming makes use of indigenous materials that can be found in farms to produce plant-growth boosters which farmers can use in lieu of the expensive chemical fertilizers currently utilized in conventional farming.

Moncupa expressed alarm over reports that the agriculture sector grew by a slower rate of 2.02 percent in the first quarter and that the trend will unlikely improve because of a number of factors, among them climate change.

The government has forecast agriculture production will rise 4 percent this year, nearly the same pace as last year’s when output rose 3.9 percent.

“The government needs to address this food-security concern as soon as possible. If the agriculture sector continues with its poor performance, the Philippines is facing yet another serious food crisis,” Moncupa said.

Climate change, which has triggered supertyphoons, severe flooding and even drought, adversely affects agricultural production as natural calamities destroy hundreds of hectares of farms, thereby resulting in huge losses on the part of farmers.

Abrupt change in weather patterns as a result of climate change makes it more difficult for farmers when to plant or harvest their crops, thereby adversely affecting farm-production output.

Aside from climate change, Moncupa blamed the agriculture sector’s poor performance to the high cost of doing business in farms. Fertilizer prices, he said, remain high and farmers barely have enough money for their families’ three square meals a day.

Roland Cabigas, managing director of La Liga Policy Institute and a convenor of Go Organic! Philippines, said government programs should be geared toward building the individual and collective capacities of farmers to produce organic fertilizers and eventually, shift to organic farming.

He said more farmers are willing to learn how to produce and use their own organic fertilizer, realizing the many benefits of going organic.

Aside from an increase in the farmers’ income, organic farming also promotes better health and safer environment for all.

“The DA should continue to implement its programs to train more farmers on various organic-farming systems and technologies,” he said.

Written by Jonathan L. Mayuga

Source: Business Mirror