BENGUET stands to lose its moniker as the “Salad Bowl of the Philippines” because of the same sector which has painstakingly built its reputation through the decades – the vegetable farmers.
Provincial Agriculture Office Regional Director Lolita Bentres, who has been working in government for 30 years now, said that in recent years the vegetable industry has seen a slow but noticeably decreasing trend.
Bentres on Monday pointed to the snail-paced rate of adoption of farmers to the latest farming technologies and interventions as the main factor which could spell doom for the vegetable industry.
“For years, we have not failed on reminding our farmers to step up the game, but most are stubborn and refuse to venture into innovations introduced by the government and private sector,” the provincial agriculturist lamented.
Benguet Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPAG) data shows that there are around 100,000 farmers and hired hands toiling the more than 27,000 hectares of agricultural land in the province.
Other institutions assisting the agricultural industry also echo the same sentiment Bentres raised .
Assistant Regional Director for Technical Service Nancy Bantog of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) on Wednesday said there are only a handful of farmers and organizations who have availed of technologies and farming implements which could potentially increase their production yield.
For years, most Benguet farmers clung on to traditional and labor-intensive manual methods passed on from one generation to another, added Training Specialist Christine Esnara of the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) last week.
Although these accustomed way of farming has placed Benguet as the top supplier of temperate vegetables in the country, supplying over 80 percent of total demands, it is also slowly leading to the slow death for the industry.
SLOW ACIDIC DEATH
Early in 2000, Bentres said simple examination of the soil, they have discovered that almost all vegetable fields in Benguet are acidic especially in the northern towns – Atok, Bakun, Buguias, Kibungan, and Mankayan.
This finding pushed the province to establish soil and pesticide laboratories for OPAG in 2008 to prove and substantiate the reports.
Soil testing showed that most crops the OPAG experimented on were not responsive to the soil due to the high acidity level.
Bentres said the miserable condition of the soil is due to the heavy use of chemicals and fresh chicken dung manure which are high on nitrogen that acidifies the ground.
The more acidic the soil, the less it is able to produce good quantity yield which pushes farmers to increase their dosage of farm inputs for better produce. The band aid solution may increase the yield for a season but it actually increases the damage on the soil and the need for stronger synthetic inputs.
The agriculturist added the local government has long been conducting information campaigns and encouraging farmers to use soil-friendly farming inputs which have been proven to be effective and appropriate soil conservation methods.
Among these campaigns is one to convince farmers to use compost fertilizers rather than fresh chicken manure to avoid further deterioration of the soil.
“If they insist on using chicken dung which they have been used to, they must not use it fresh but rather composted first before applying,” the agriculturist adviced.
Composting entails added effort and time, but Bentres said the farmers need to sacrifice to rejuvenate the ground rather than risk permanently losing their livelihood in the coming years.
To reduce soil acidity, Bentres said they are pushing for intercropping of leguminous vegetables which could help neutralize the high nitrogen content of the soil due to their nitrogen-fixing properties.
Unlike most highland vegetables, legumes like peas, beans, and peanuts have the capacity to absorb nitrogen compounds produced by a symbiotic bacteria called rhizobia.
Although not a cure, “boosters” as are also recommended by the OPAG to resist further damages to the soil.
Introduced in Benguet in 2009, mokusaku, a Japanese technology, could have also allayed the increasing acidity of the soil if only patronized by farmers, said Bentres.
Mokusaku is a multi-functional technology which helps prevent the soil from drying as well as the unnecessary loss of fertilizer nutrients, while also serving as a repellent, herbicide, and fungicide.
Estimated to be used by not even a quarter of the farming population, the technology was developed by Masaki Yokomori, who has been helping the Benguet agricultural industry for several years.
Added to that, Bentres admitted that they cannot win the war against commercial companies who legally sell strong farm inputs that are detrimental to the soil.
“Companies are very good at promoting their products to farmers and making them very appealing, which the government is short of doing,” Bentres said.
But Benguet province is not giving up, a resolution banning all commercial companies from placing advertisement signs on farms and roadsides apart from specified posting areas is currently docked at the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.
BRIDGING THE GAP THROUGH ‘GAP’
The acidity of the soil could be a major hindrance for Benguet farmers from entering the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) competition since it would require farmers to have their farms certified for Good Agricultural Practices (GAP).
Department of Human Nutrition and Foods Dean Pelin Belino of Benguet State University (BSU) perceived that GAP certified produce would be the priority market because it means the product is safe and methods used are not harmful for human consumption.
Bentres said all agriculture agencies including BSU were never remiss in informing farmers of a slow death for the Benguet vegetable industry if the ASEAN market overtakes the local.
“We can inform but we cannot impose. Yet, it seems the ASEAN integration is not enough driving force to push them to comply,” Esnara stated.
Even on a regional scale, only four Benguet farms are GAP certified – two in Kibungan and two in Tublay.
Bentres said the main reason for keeping farmers from complying is their own attitude.
GAP certification requires farmers to make a detailed log book of their activities including the type and dosage of pesticides they use and frequency of spraying.
Inspectors from the DA Central Office, are also very strict in monitoring water sources as well as farm facilities such as washing area, comfort room, and even storage facilities.
Esnara said the process is really just a matter of systematizing, Many farmers however are not used to this and are reluctant to comply.
“Farmers should understand that nothing is automatic and that they should do their part too, that’s why it takes time for good things to come,” Bentres said.
For farms less than a hectare, compliance can take less than year unlike bigger farms which could longer that just one year, the provincial officer said.
To push farmers further, Esnara suggested end consumers even at the local level should patronize products from GAP certified farms.
To easily adhere with GAP, Regional Director Lorenzo Caranguian of the Department of Agriculture said mechanization will help reduce manual labor and yet increase productivity.
Admitting that Benguet terrain could make mechanization difficult and cost could be challenging, he said farmers could employ smaller machines that a farmers’ organization or cooperative can acquire.
DA and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) can provide farmers organizations with farming machines through grants or cost-sharing.
USING JAPAN TO AVOID HARAKIRI
Benguet is now pinning its hopes of changing the traditional farming mindset on a bunch of young generation of farmers trained in Japan.
Since1997, the province has been sending in batches young farmers to different prefectures in Japan for a three-year hands-on “learning-while-earning” training where they are given accommodation and compensation.
Bentres said they have noted that trainees who return to the province have mastered and imbibed in their system the methods and technological know-how of the Japanese agricultural industry, considered to be 10 to 15 years ahead than the country.
From time to time, they are tapped by the provincial government to help other farmers with their GAP compliance. There are only roughly around 600 Japan-trained farmers as of June this year.
“We are banking on them to be the catalysts to change Benguet farming system gradually,” Bentres said.
Aside from that, Kochi prefecture, a sister province of Benguet, has been training technical resource persons through six-month scholarships on research and technology update and application.
Since 1975, there have been more than 60 people who have availed of the grant which includes Bentres and most of the OPAG staff.
Researches and methods learned from Japan are being taught to farmers who want to avail through technology demonstrations as well as Farmers’ Field School where Municipal Agriculturists educate farmers through informal schooling at the level of the municipality.
With concerted efforts from other agencies and institutions, Bentres said the province is hopeful that the vegetable industry will eventually step up and be at par with the global competition.
“We have time and again showed resilience as a people, we will thrive and survive because farming is what our people know,” she added.*