Batanes regains crop productivity, profit with CPAR

MANILA, Philippines - With right farming technologies, significant positive changes can happen not only to the income of farmers but to the community as a whole.

This was the case of a Community-based Participatory Action Research (CPAR) project being implemented in Batanes.

The project is funded by the Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR) and is being implemented by the Provincial Local Government Unit (PLGU) of Batanes. 

Batanes is an island province located on the northernmost part of the country and characterized by its geographical isolation, unique topography and the unpredictability of weather conditions.

Agriculture and fishery-based livelihoods are the main source of income of the residents. However, even though most of the farmers practice traditional and organic agricultural practices, there is a need to enhance the farming system to increase productivity and income. 

The agricultural areas in Batanes are composed of two primary development zones: coastal and upland areas, which are utilized for growing crops and raising livestock. All agricultural lands are mainly rainfed areas and soil nutrient depletion is prevalent due to insufficiency of appropriate amendments and nutrient replenishment strategies. 

Given this state, a thorough understanding on the appropriate agricultural technologies to maximize productivity and harness the potentials of Batanes’ unique environment was pushed through the introduction of the CPAR project. 

“We studied and analyzed the situation, and finally came up with the best fit interventions in the area” said Cesar Doroteo V. Hostallero, senior agriculturist of PLGU-Batanes.

The project aimed to accelerate promotion of appropriate technologies of viable farming enterprises within the context of an integrated farming system to increase productivity and income of farmers with emphasis on organic production.

Six farmer-cooperators from three sites in Chanarian, Basco; Sungahan, Mahatao; and Vatang, Ivana were tapped for the CPAR project. 

The coastal areas

Coastal areas in Batanes are mostly planted with vegetables and other crops appropriate for a sandy loam to clay loam type of soil.

The farmer’s practice is to plant corn followed by vegetables and/or vegetable then fallow. This led to insufficiency of vegetable supply especially during the months of March-June.  Further aggravating the problem is the unpredictability of weather conditions which affect vegetable production.

Another major concern is the limited knowledge on appropriate fertilizer sources and their application leading to soil fertility problems. 

The proponents developed a package of technology (POT) that would address these problems. They promoted a year-round vegetable production by using appropriate vegetable varieties and conducted capacity building and technology demonstration on organic vegetable production technologies, cultural management, and integrated nutrient management.

Tomato, eggplant, sweet pepper, pole sitao, snap beans, ampalaya, cabbage, and carrots were the vegetables recommended to be planted in the project sites. Based on the results, eggplant was the most profitable crop followed by tomato, snap beans, ampalaya, cabbage, pole sitao, sweet pepper, and carrots, respectively. 

Preparation of natural farming inputs including fermented plant juice (FPJ), fermented fruit juice (FFJ), oriental herbal nutrient (OHN) for pest management, fish amino acid (FAA), effective microorganisms (EM) and the gathering of indigenous microorganisms (IMO), vermicomposting, and recommended technologies on plot preparation, plant spacing, trellising, and mulching were among the topics discussed during the trainings which were conducted in support of the project.

The knowledge gained was transferred not only to farmers in the project sites,  but throughout the six municipalities of the province. 

Increased yield was noticeable after the introduction of the POTs. From an average yield of 951 kilograms using farmers practice, it went up to 1,197 kilograms across the three project sites. When translated to income, from P9,444 using the farmers practice, the CPAR project sites marked an average income of  P17, 463 with an increment of 84.9 percent. 

In addition, the proponents trained the farmers on how to save their own seeds to avoid constant buying of seeds and to minimize the production cost of the farmers. 

The upland areas

The farmers’ practice in the upland areas is rootcrops-garlic-fallow cropping pattern. After harvesting the garlic, large parts of farms are left idle until the next rootcrop season. This accounted for a lost opportunity when farmers could have made  some income during this time. 

In response to this, the project introduced the camote-garlic-mungbean cropping pattern. 

For two crop cycles, using the introduced cropping pattern, the total production in the upland areas increased to 310 kilograms per sqm. 

The CPAR farms posted a net income of P12,082 from P3,665 using the rootcrops-garlic-fallow cropping pattern showing a 221.76 percent increase in income.

As compared to allowing the land  to fallow, an additional P1,688 was added to the income of the farmers when they planted mungbean as a third crop. Another major benefit of the introduced cropping pattern was that the legumes help in rejuvenating soil fertility. In fact, it decreases the acidity of soil in the upland areas. 

The Ivatans take pride in their garlic because it is organically-produced and is of good quality. They have two varieties – the Batanes red (has bigger cloves) and the Itbayat variety (smaller cloves like the Ilocos variety). In fact, the surplus supply is marketed outside the province specifically in organic markets in Metro Manila and Divisoria.  However, due to the intrusion of imported garlic, the Batanes garlic industry is slowly showing a decline. This is why part of the project is strengthening the organic garlic production in Batanes by introducing appropriate and viable organic technologies. 

Using the recommended POTs, from a 216 kilograms production, the garlic yield reached as high as 338 kilograms in a 1000 sqm. area. From a net income of P1,648 in selling the garlic alone, it went up to P5, 221. 

The ripple effect

An additional 221 farmers from three CPAR sites adopted the POT for year-round vegetable production in the coastal areas. The use of botanical pesticides and organic fertilizers and other organic practices such as vermicomposting are well accepted by the farmers. They have also seen the importance of practicing crop rotation, intercropping and crop diversification. The camote-garlic-mungbean cropping pattern, on the other hand, was adopted by 166 farmers in the three CPAR sites. With the technologies adopted by the farmers, the province was able to produce 89.38 metric tons of vegetables which accounted for 13 percent of the total requirement of the entire province. 

To ensure that marketing of garlic and vegetable products are organized so that the farmers  get the most out of his produce, the proponents organized the farmers from the six municipalities into a garlic and vegetable producers ssociation with a provincial federation named as Batanes Garlic Producers Association (BGPA).

Currently, the garlic producers association in Itbayat, where the bulk of the garlic in Batanes is produced, has a marketing agreement with vegetable importers to buy their organic garlic and other organic products including camote, ubi, gabi, shallots, and mungbean.

“We also linked the small farmers to the established Barangay Food Terminal in the locality so that the consumers have easy access to vegetables and other crops” added  Hostallero. 

After the conduct of the project, the outputs from the CPAR pushed the PLGU-Batanes to intensify the implementation of organic food production projects in the province through the implementation of Gulayan sa Barangay, FAITH, Intensified Garlic and Mungbean Production, among other crop production initiatives. In fact, the PLGU allocated about  A certain percentage from its 20 percent development fund to support the projects through SP Resolution No. 81 and 131 in 2012 and 2013. 

The CPAR program works on the premise that through the participatory engagements of the project implementers, farmers, and other stakeholders, its impact would  not only be felt by the farmer-cooperators, but also the community as a whole.