Isabela town finds summer gold in munggo

SAN MATEO, Isabela — This major rice-producing town has found another gold in munggo for its thousands of farming families.

Having produced tons of munggo since its farmers ventured into it as an additional income source, especially during the summer, San Mateo, touted as Isabela’s rice capital, may well be the region’s munggo granary, too.   

San Mateo Mayor Roberto Agcaoili said that while most of ricefields elsewhere in the country are rendered dry and idle during the summer, farmlands here remain green as farmers convert them into munggo plantations.

Munggo, locally known as balatong, is grown shortly before the onset of the summer season when the soil still holds substantial moisture.

Municipal agriculture officer Emiliano Camba said the town produces an average of one ton per hectare of shelled munggo.

He said a farmer, who is normally idle during the summer months, needs only about P1,000 worth of seeds to convert a one-hectare ricefarm into a munggo plantation.

And since the municipal government encouraged its farmers to make use of their idle time for munggo planting four years ago, the town now has more than 7,000 hectares of munggo farms during the dry season.

"We encouraged our farmers to consider alternate cropping of munggo to keep them from being idle during the summer months," Agcaoili said.

A production of 800 to 1,000 kilos of munggo per hectare, at the prevailing price of P32 per kilo, means an income of P26,500 to P32,000 per hectare.

This, Camba said, translates into P224 million in additional income during the summer for San Mateo farmers who take time off from planting rice.

Besides its economic value, munggo, according to experts, is one of the most nutritious foods, being a source of protein, calcium and iron.

"Also, wittingly or unwittingly, our munggo farmers are keeping Mother Earth agriculturally friendly as the natural fertility of the soil is enhanced by the nitrogen-fixing bacteria present in the root system of the leguminous crop," Agcaoili said.

One of the contingency measures once the Magat hydroelectric dam in nearby Ramon town becomes non-operational after 14 years as forecast, the conversion of San Mateo’s vast ricelands into munggo plantations could be the most practical remedy since munggo is drought-resistant and considered a high-value crop.

Agcaoili said munggo could replace rice as the town’s major crop once ricefields here are no longer irrigated with the anticipated "phaseout" of Magat Dam.

Local irrigation officials have been saying that the lifespan of Magat Dam, which has also been generating at least 360 megawatts for the Luzon grid, has been radically reduced to 36 years due to massive siltation, slash-and-burn farming (kaingin), fishcaging and illegal tree-cutting. 

Engineer Vicente Galvez, regional director of the National Irrigation Administration, said the dam’s original lifespan was supposed to be 50 years, but the 1990 earthquake that struck Northern Luzon caused a lot of landslides that heavily silted all major and minor tributaries of the Magat River system. 

If no rehabilitation measures are initiated, Galvez said the 22-year-old dam would become inutile.

Aside from providing additional power for the Luzon grid, the Magat Dam is also a major source of irrigation for more than 85,000 hectares of farmlands in Isabela and parts of Quirino and Cagayan.

"The effect of siltation is tremendous. When the time comes that we need to rehabilitate the dam, we have to spend billions of pesos," Galvez said during a "typhoon summit" here earlier this year.

Agcaoili said they are now preparing farmers to face the stark realities even as the national government is working to rehabilitate the dam.

"Once our ricefarms are no longer irrigated, we could convert them into munggo plantations, since by then our farmers have already mastered the culture of the leguminous crop," he said.

Agcaoili said the municipal government is now conducting field research to find out which varieties of munggo, mostly imported, could suitably grow and produce the best yield under the local soil conditions.

In fact, Agcaoili said a day-long Munggo Field Day for farmers is slated this Friday.

The activities include actual visits to mungbean demonstration farms, and seminars on the various aspects of munggo production such as farm preparations, maintenance, harvesting and marketing.