WHO WOULD believe that a 1.2-hectare farmland can sufficiently provide the needs of a family of 14?
The small farmland is owned by Romeo Rodriguez which is located in Barangay Gil Montilla, Sipalay City in Negros Occidental – an area which was affected by the then mining operations in the nearby village.
Before, thousands of residents were affected, many of them are small farmers who were mostly dependent on the water coming from a river for irrigating their farms.
But when the mining company ceased its operations due to alleged labor disputes, the people also lost their jobs – many of them are workers of the beleaguered mining project.
The incident forced Rodriguez to till his land and tried to use different kinds of synthetic farm inputs in the hope of rehabilitating the soil.
Rodriguez narrated that during the earlier years, he was able to harvest some 100 cavans of rice, but eventually started to dwindle to around 50 cavans to as low as 14 cavans only.
The cause of which was the effect of the chemical fertilizers and other farm inputs which he used – in the hope of rehabilitating the land to expect an increased harvest.
Apparently alarmed by the decreasing output of his farmland coupled with the increasing amount of farm inputs, Rodriguez went to the Hinoba-an Campus of the Central Philippines State University (CPSU) in nearby Hinoba-an town, Negros Occidental on November 2018 to ask for assistance for the rehabilitation of his farmland.
Lucky enough, Rodriguez was able to meet CPSU-Hinoba-an professor Joean Escober who analysed his concern and recommended the use of vermicast as organic fertilizer, and vermitea as substitute for pesticide and herbicide.
Following his visit and consultations, the CPSU Hinoba-an Campus team immediately proceeded to the farm of Rodriguez in Sipalay where a hands-on training and orientation was made.
The team initially brought some two kilos of African Night Crawler as start-up for Rodriguez in building his small composting area.
During the last week of December that year, the members of the CPSU Hinoba-an team visited the farm of Rodriguez where they found out that he had already produced enough organic fertilizer to rehabilitate his small farmland.
Then last April, Rodriguez informed Escober that he was able to harvest about 75 cavans of rice just by applying vermicast only to his field.
The improvement can be attributed to the use of vermicast because it will not burn or damage even the most delicate roots of the plant, especially during extreme temperatures.
Vermicast can even prevent or minimize erosion, and when minerally-balanced, it can reduce the incidence of weeds. By using earthworm castings, it can greatly reduce the use of chemical fertilizers and other synthetic agricultural inputs.
Rodriguez attributed the improvement of his farm to the vital information and training conducted by the CPSU Hinoba-an team led by Escober.
For her part, Escober shared that the considerable improvement attained by Rodriguez is his willingness to adopt the practical technology introduced to him by the CPSU Hinoba-an team. (jaypeeyap@ymail.com/PN)
