Farmers embrace change, increasing output, income

MANILA, Philippines - Change is good, but only if one is willing to embrace it.  

In farming, change must be seen as an opportunity to improve and produce more. This entails farmers stopping what they have been doing which have not been working, and start doing things that will work and will improve his/her production.

This summarizes the farming life of Rosemarie Fulgosino, 44, a farmer-cooperator in Brgy. Amingan in Umingan, Pangasinan, one of the sites for the project “CPAR on Integrated Rice-Ampalaya + Corn + Goat Production Farming Systems” implemented by the Department of Agriculture-Ilocos Integrated Agricultural Research Center (DA-ILIARC) and funded by BAR.

The project aims to increase farm productivity and profitability through introduced farming system and to promote appropriate technologies and improved production system.

Prior to the introduction of CPAR, Rosemarie, like her fellow farmers in Umingan, followed the existing farming practices.

“We do farming the old way. Existing practices from old learning that was handed down to us by our forefathers. Everyone was doing it so we taught it’s the right thing,” explained Rosemarie.

With the introduction of CPAR in Brgy. Amingan, farmers witnessed “change” unfold before their eyes. Change came in the form of technologies and interventions that in order to take effect, must be followed and adopted in the field.

Improving production system

“Experience taught us that anything that is new will not be easily accepted by our farmers. But if we show them that these technologies will improve their production and income, and they themselves have proven that they are effective, then the farmers will believe and adopt,” said Melinda G. Calumpit, CPAR focal person of ILIARC and co-proponent of the project.

She added that the current production system of farmers is not being optimized, resulting in low productivity.  “One major cause is the farmers’ lack of technical knowledge and skills leading to low adoption of improved production technologies and practices. Another cause is their lack of financial resources that limit them to venture into the business side of farming,” she said.

Prior to the introduction of CPAR in Amingan, Rosemarie planted mainly rice and corn, then onion and a few vegetables. Out of the 1.5 hectare land that her family owns, a half hectare is allotted to adopt CPAR technologies. She learned of the CPAR project from the municipal office where she was one of the farmers from two selected barangays who were invited to attend the orientation on CPAR. She became one of the 11 original farmer-cooperators for the project.

When the concept of integrated farming system was taught to them, she learned that she could produce more by maximizing the potential of her land.  By “producing more” and “earning more for the family.”

Rosemarie was part of the original 10 farmer-cooperators in Brgy. Amingan. Their group, the Amingan CPAR Association grew to 30 members, “the largest in Umingan,” she said. “We encourage other farmers to adopt the technologies in CPAR so that their production will also improve and their income will increase,” said Rosemarie.

As a farmer-cooperator, Rosemarie received inputs including certified seeds, fertilizer, and vegetable seeds. Five goats are part of the farmer’s equity.

To equip the farmers with the technical knowledge on production farming systems, the cooperators, including Rosemarie, underwent refresher training on crop production for rice and corn, goat production, and crops+livestock integration. They also underwent Farmer Livestock School (FLS) to enhance farmers’ learning capability and discover-learn through the conduct of participatory technology development. They cross visited different farms where rice, corn, and goats are productively raised and utilized as a viable and profitable enterprise. This was to orient them on the latest trend on crop-livestock production and to personally  appreciate the various options of recommended technology.

Old habits die hard

One difficulty in introducing change to farmers is not their unwillingness to adopt technologies, but  more of  old-habits-die-hard attitude.

Vilma Abalos, agricultural technician in Umingan, Pangasinan, said that a lot of farmers keep to their old habit because no one tells them otherwise, and everyone seems to be doing it, thinking it’s the best way.

One old farming practice on rice is that farmers plant luxuriously without proper distance. “Tsamba-tsamba lang!” said Abalos. In the old practice, farmers use three bags of fertilizers and three bags of seeds for every hectare of land. They plant five to seven  seedlings per hill and harvest 25 to 30 days after sowing. “So imagine, before they spend P1,350 per bag of seeds times three, that is P4,050 already,” she added.

“Through CPAR, improved practices were introduced to us. They informed us that we can use two bags of organic fertilizer for every bag of seed and plant only two to three seedlings per hill, and harvest 21-25 days after sowing,” explained Rosemarie.

“Before, they don’t believe that 20 kilos is enough for half a hectare, but we encouraged them to try. They don’t apply organic fertilizer, but we told them that the plant is easier to pull if they apply organic fertilizer. So after that they believed us,” said Abalos. She added that after that, many farmers around the neighborhood did the same thing.

Farmers were also taught on proper planting distance which is 20x20. “The disadvantage of overcrowding is that the plant will not produce tillers,” said Abalos.

Another intervention is the use of certified seeds which minimizes the spraying of insecticides in the field. Farmers were also taught to utilize crop residue as feed for animals and materials for composting to minimize farm waste.

For the livestock component, farmers were taught  various technology options including establishing building housing, upgrade breeding, health and feeding management. Cooperators from the two CPAR sites were awarded one Boer Anglo Nubian bucks each which is intended for upgrade breeding. In terms of feeding management, farmers were taught to consider late grazing and tethering instead of the usual practice of early morning tethering.

After they underwent FLS, they’ve learned that they should feed their goats at 9 a.m. instead of 5 a.m. as this would prevent the goats from eating contaminants like eggs and parasites in the grasses. They were also encouraged to build goat houses and to practice “cut and carry method” of feeding grasses/fodder to minimize diarrhea,” explained Abalos.

Another intervention is the use of rice straw and corn stalks, which are crop residues or considered as farm waste, as feeds for goats. Meanwhile, goat manure were also collected for vermicomposting.

For the intercrop, Abalos explained that since they’ve introduced the growing of a creeping variety of ampalaya, they taught the farmers how to mulch their soil using dayami. “Before, they don’t mulch. We told them that mulching will maintain the moisture of the soil. And since dayami is a farm waste, this does not add any cost to their farm input,” Rosemarie added.

Before and after CPAR

Rosemarie is just one of the successful farmer cooperators who stood by the promise of CPAR. She said, “after the introduction of CPAR, slowly things have changed. Our production improved. But more than the yield and the profits, what is important are the learning and knowledge that we got from CPAR. This totally changed our old habits and existing practices in farming.”

She reported some of these changes in tangible terms.  “For rice production, before, we only harvested 30 cavans for half a hectare, after CPAR our harvest average to 50-51 cavans.”

She mentioned that before CPAR, she was into onion production.  “After CPAR, we started integrating other crops like corn and ampalaya. For corn, we are harvesting 70 cavans (Bt corn) for half a hectare. Our ampalaya production was also good. We sell both the leaves and the fruits to the market so this becomes an instant income for us.”

Goats, which were part of their equity, also grew in number. “We started with three goats, which was the required number for every CPAR farmer-cooperator. Now we have five goats,” she said.

She continued that with what they have learned from CPAR, their production improved in terms of yield and soil condition because they are now using organic fertilizer. “Before we buy organic fertilizer, now we produce them because DA taught us how to make our own organic fertilizer,” she added.

In terms of income, Rosemarie said that it also improved. “We were able to save our profit. Before every cropping season we need to loan outside at five percent interest, now through CPAR we can loan from our own association at zero interest,” she said.

Farmer-cooperators are only required to pay one percent interest on their loan, if they fail to pay on the given  due date. The association is farmer-managed with its own rollover scheme for each member.