30 tillers. This is the average tiller count of our Sampidao- a  native, fragrant, soft rice variety. This is already an indicator of more yield, however, not all of it are productive tillers because of factor such as pest infestation.

In Kanipaan, most of farmers did direct planting this cropping because of limited budget as a result of the past cropping’s multiple pest outbreak. Recently, they harvested an average of 104 sacks per hectare but with unrestricted use of herbicides and chemical pesticides.

Table 1. Average yield- Direct Planting 1

On one hand, our average SRI yield is lower than their average but if we think of sustaining the 30 tillers to make it all productive, developing our weeders to a more efficient level to manage weeds and focus on increasing natural enemies to minimize bug damage , we should reach the same level as of direct planting or even more than that. 

When there are pests, we always think, “KILL THEM!!!”. But this cropping, “Tyangaw” or Rice bugs are more resilient. Recently, the rice field next to us, harvested ahead of us because his was direct planted and it early matured. His bugs transferred to our ripe plants. To save our crop we sprayed, anti bug chemicals but it didn’t kill them even we used new medicine and increased it’s dosage. Worst, they even multiplied in number.

There is a study (http://ricehoppers.net/2009/09/farms-that-apply-insecticides-for-leaf-folder-control-are-10-times-more-at-risk-to-hopperburn/) about the negative effects of using insecticides to control leaf folders. It says by spraying chemical pesticides, farms are 10x more susceptible to hopper burn because the natural ecosystem services that regulates these hoppers are destroyed. It is clear here that natural predators must be protected.

In case of Rice bugs, maybe it is the same with leaf folders. I have a thought on this: What if we give focus on increasing natural predators? We should let other insects kill them.

Last month was the peak of harvest for many farmers in Kanipaan, Palimbang including our 5.5 hectares land in RCF. We experienced delay in harvesting and threshing because there is shortage of harvesters.

One time, we tried to hire harvesters from neighboring villages but we spent an extra cost for fetching them, meals, accommodation. After that, there were no harvesters anymore. Out of no choice, we harvested our own with the help of some PASALI youth volunteers who also have no experience in harvesting.

In the following harvests, the volunteers got busy with threshing works. This time, only three people harvested a hectare.  It took them 3 days to finish a hectare. Some harvester demanded more than the regular payment which is 1 sack for every 14 sacks. Normally, it takes 12 expert harvester to finish a hectare in one day.

During the harvesting, the laborers cut the rice’ panicle(one with the grains) and hang it above the remaining stem. The practice of Palimbang farmers is, they will not tie the cut panicles into a bundle until they finished cutting a whole hectare.

As a result, the ungathered  cut  Palay are left uncovered in the open field. During heavy rainy nights, the soil gets muddy and so is the Palay when it falls to the ground. Hence, the quality is affected since wet rice turns spotted and is trade off into low price.

Also, by the third day that harvesting is finished, the Palay are already so ripe. When laborers gather to tie them up into a bundle, many seeds already fall into the ground and this is why great is the wastage in manual harvesting ( 25-30% of the harvest).  This is not only our loss but of the rest of farmers in Palimbang. Kanipaan alone has 80 hectares for rice farming. Thus, we are talking of wastage here in TONS. Clearly, this shows the need to mechanize harvesting as the farmers themselves will benefit most of it.

There is a notion that when we mechanize harvesting, many people will lost jobs but if we think of the welfare of the farmers and how to increase their production, reduce wastage, prevent crop loss, then, mechanization is a step.

SRI in seedbed 

Spacing

Spacing needs to start in the seedbed. The common practice now is, crowd the seedbed with seeds so that only few blocks are used. Unfortunately, most of our  seed beds are densely planted but we noticed in a seedbed where seeds are loosely broadcasted, the seedlings are taller, thicker, uniform in size and greener. In tight spaced seedlings, only the ones in the edges are tall because the edge has bigger space. This shows that seedlings grow healthier with spacing.

Also, if the seedlings are very close to each other, it gives convenience for the uprooters  to “pull and pull no matter what”  because the plants are closer but if it’s not, they need to take time to pull one by one.

Even though we used dapog system or mat nursery using sacks for the purpose of easily uprooting seedlings, the roots are still cut upon uprooting because the laborers are hasty. Also, the dapog is crowded with too much seeds. The result is, the roots underneath intertwined making it hard for laborers to uproot without forcing. When they force,the roots are cut. Thus, the root are still stressed. It did not serve it’s purpose.

Fertilizing

An SRI farmer in Visayas  who harvests 7 tons per hectare has  a practice of fertilizing the seed bed with chicken manure from his farm.  He mixes the manure with soil which he puts in a plastic sheet lining up to 2 cm height. This is his dapog system. The dapog system we used is not yet effective in minimizing root stress because the roots are still cut upon uprooting Next cropping, we can try our very own vermi manure which is rich in nitrogen. The challenge now is to produce a ton of this manure per hectare to be used not only for seedbed but through the growing season. Thus, we need a bigger space for vermicast. We can also outsource manures from poultry and cow farms.

30-40 cm spacing

In a single plot, we experimented direct planting by dropping the seeds instead of broadcasting with a space of 17x 25 cm and 25×25 cm distance. The latter produced 9-19 tillers while the former 9-10 tillers only on the same growth day( 53 days). Clearly, the bigger spacing has more tillers. I’m thinking, maybe if we increase the spacing up to 30cm or more, we can have more tillers.

8-10 DAT (Day after Transplanting )

So far, the earliest date of transplanting we have is 11 days. Still we have many seedlings eaten by snail but it is more because of improper leveling and farmer neglect. If only farmer beneficiaries take good care of their land, it is easy to plant 8 day old seedlings even when it constantly rains.

Rushing from her class every noon time, Christy arrives at Pasta Donita wearing a newly bought long palda and white blouse uniform. On her heels is a pair of black leather wedge which she recently bought from her wage. She changes her clothes and puts on her working clothes and does an intertwined crew and admin work. On some days, she takes an off by 7:00 pm and goes to school again for a night class. After that, she arrives on her boarding house which she pays monthly from her own pocket, she eats dinner and take a good night sleep.

Clearly, she is an example of a youth living a self-determined life – being able to pay her own meals, tuition, school needs and a room for rent. Only few youth grab this opportunity, only those who are willing to pay the price.

In this picture: Missing hills in the front part.

One of the goal of the RCF is to take a farmer into a process that while his land mortgaged to us, he can have the chance to redeem it by tilling his own land and learning the method of System of Rice Intensification to achieve greater yields so he can pay off his land within a span of 5 years ( maximum).  However, some beneficiaries aren’t convinced with SRI yet. It is hard for them to do SRI because of the following reasons:

Lack of discipline and perseverance.

In the farm, we make it to the point that we will only use synthetic pesticides if after having tried different natural and organic ways, the pests are not yet controlled. On one hand, we agreed not to  use herbicides in controlling weeds since we have weeders that can uproot weeds at the same time aerate the soil which is helpful in root growth.

We have a hard time in the farms now, because the farmer beneficiaries who are supposed to do the regular tasks in the farm like replanting missing hills and weeding are not done religiously. As a result, extra labor costs are incurred by the management because farmers are not doing their job on time and with the effort they are supposed to give on a daily basis. They don’t want the hard jobs and they always need to be told, “do this, do that” instead of working independently .” It’s like they don’t want to redeem their land.

Even in some of their lands that were not mortgaged to us, they don’t even take care nor innovate in their conventional type of farming. The management realized that cutting their wages wouldn’t change their mindset so given this kind of farmer behavior, it clearly shows that we need to revise a compensation system where their share/pay will be based on their output at the end of the cropping instead of monthly salary. No matter how we want to help the farmers but if the farmers themselves don’t work with the will to redeem their land, it wouldn’t change their lives for the better.

Farm Mechanization

One of the reasons why farming is a lot of work, is the insufficiency of machines that makes work efficient. For instance, we want to promote the non usage of herbicides through using rotary weeders but because its design is not yet efficient and we don’t have enough of it, weeding still takes a week for a hectare. Thus, it is still a big work increases labor cost. The neighboring farmers laugh at us saying, ” If you used herbicides, it would take just one day.”

But youth are excited with machines. One time, we tested for the first time the new mechanical sprayer. It  took only 2 hours (   more or less)  to spray a whole hectare). Otherwise, it would take the boys a whole day to spray a hectare using the manual type.  I cannot forget how the volunteers  proudly shared their experience with other colleagues.

1.  Change the blade. Due to dysfunctional  motorized weeders lately, we used more manual weeders. We observed that the blade of the manual is more extensive in removing the weeds than the mechanized. In the motorized, only the part that the blade hits get cleaned so the weeds that grow in the base part of the plant is not carried off.

its blades are wider and have a deeper cleaning action. The blades are located at the base thus, it does not tear the plant leaves as it rotates. What if we put the blade of the manual into the motorized one?

2. Find a suitable gear box for wet land weeding.  motorized weeder frequently breaks down  because of its gear box. I was informed that the weeder we use now is originally for corn farm which has a dry ground. Unlike in rice, the paddy needs to be filled with water to expedite the weeding process. However, this might be the cause why gear box often breaks down because of direct contact with water. The muddy soil might also add to the weight the gear box carries making it more vulnerable to damage.

3. Develop lighter weeder for deep areas with “ raking” action instead of “ digging”. In naturally deep land areas, weeding is a struggle due to greater effort exerted upon weeding and because deeper areas are more prone to weeds. In Maguid I saw Ganotice’s weder version with nails on the base of wooden weeder. The nails provide a raking action on the weeds beneath. It is also light to operate.  Maybe it will be good for lumasog (deep) areas.

4. Add more weeder.  For a hectare, it takes 5 weeders to finish weeding in a week.  Right now, we only have 4 manual weeders and 2 functional motorized ones. Simultaneously, weeding must be started in all 5.5 hectares( RCF coverage only)  already because weeding must be finished before fertilizing so that weeds won’t compete with rice plants in the nutrients. If we want to promote usage of weeder to control weeds, there must be enough of it.

One of the hardest part in managing is to correct a subordinate who is older and more experienced in than you. Last cropping ( January- July) there were many faults like we knew some planters don’t do the correct way of planting. We had the dilemma to correct them as the planters (who are older than us)  might not come back again or hold grudge against us as the community has the kind of behavior. But this is easy, we just need to make work contracts, have it printed, read, explained why we have to do such act and signed by them. If an employee intentionally makes mistakes, we call his attention and correct/ warn him privately not openly. People risk is a major challenge that the Rice Contract Farm faces. We counter it this time with thorough and consistent monitoring and by exercising authority by being strict with the standards. Discipline is something to enforce and most of all to have.

To innovate

In the first cropping, we experienced a multiple pest outbreak which had an effect in the production. The  advantage in this setback is , we now have a standpoint to see where to adjust/ prepare as earlier as now. Though pest is a major risk, yet they can be controlled.

Second cropping plans:

Conduct  soil test, revive vermiculture, dapog system ( easy uprooting system), revive the pest resistant native varieties, strengthen biological pest control: Plant bright colored flowers, vegetables, lemongrass to attract predatory insects.

Cultural Pest control

Even if we keep our areas clean but if our neighbor has bushy dikes and canals where rats, snails propagate, it just don’t make sense at all. Keeping the area clean is major community challenge as pest such as bugs and rats transfer from one area to another.   Hence, cultural practices are a major consideration if we talk of sustainable pest control.

Last 2010, Barangay( village) Kolong- kolong in Palimbang had a zero harvest when rats infested. Since then, farmers agreed, put in writing, signed to do rat hunting. Until now they still do and if a member farmer does not do his duty, he is charged a fine. If community rat hunting is successful in Kolong- kolong, ii could also be in Kanipaan.

Crop rotation

In Kanipaan, Palimbang and so with many other places, rice is the crop planted for over many years (monoculture). However, this explains the build-up of rice pests, viruses, weeds and the depletion of soil fertility. To break or limit these cycle, another crop must be planted as same plants tend to have same pests.

In Palimbang, where most of lands are mortgaged and land rental fee is high, farmers may not agree on crop rotation as other crops to be alternated with rice are less profitable but might also mean less input ( so, still profitable). Also, even if you decide not to till your land, you still have to pay an irrigation fee. Though this need a collective decision, this can be possible.

Land preparation is done right, seeds are sown in time, transplanting is wrong. Then, all the right doesn’t make an impact at all. This is just one of the challenges that the Rice Contract Farm (RCF) is facing where most unwanted incidents are caused by failure of workers to do things right and lack of initiative. In SRI principle, root care is very crucial as it greatly dictates your produce.  Early before the planting stage, planters (about 22 people) were told to slide the rice seedlings to form an L shape to position the roots for better growth instead of just sticking it in the soil. After repeated instruction with explanation, they still do the wrong thing. Some would follow but when the managers are away, they do otherwise. Palimbang is an area where the conventional method of farming is prevalent. Where farmers are used to plant two- three seedlings in a hill by sticking it in.  SRI is the exact otherwise- new system that requires a conscious effort in protecting the roots by early transplanting, one seedling planting per hill, wide spacing, intermittent irrigation and weeding.

Other issues we experienced with people are:

Rice blast infection due to inconsistent monitoring of assigned farmer technician.

Lapses in agronomic monitoring because of sick trainee.

Spotted grains due to exposure of freshly harvested grains to rain overnight because of unfinished work of harvesters .  Spots deteriorates the quality of rice and so with its selling price.

In this pilot, where the largest cut in operational cost goes to salaries and wages, we cannot afford to lower our expectation when it comes to worker behavior. Since we want to inculcate discipline among farmers, we need to push for it. How? Maybe by creating a corporate image where erring workers are subjected to disciplinary actions. Or maybe we can create a rewarding system where reporters of erring workers are paid. However, this may not work or worst, create strife among workers. Also, we cannot just pull out planters from everywhere. They should undergo a certification process where first, they are oriented then they are tested. I don’t if this will work but there must be a way to solve all this problem with people.

Moreover, they have expanded their rice farm up to 5 hectares where they harvest the known nutritious “ Bulaw( Golden) rice”. Each hectare produces about 70 sacks.

Some organized women grows vegetables and spices more than their family’s consumption. These women (both young and old) trades 100- 300 bundles of native spring onions and green leafy vegetables like Spinach Malabar and more others.

On top of the corn boom is the advent of giant Tilapia farming started last March. Two fishponds are already cultivated for reproduction. Meanwhile, an active youth with over 20 Tri- people members from two villages built a fishpond already and are just waiting for Tilapia fingerlings.

Biao is a picture of a progressive growth in food production mainly because their tribal leader dreams. He knows what he wants for his community. Also, opportunities for growth keep coming because those who help want to help more. It’s a boost how they manage the small things and multiply them ( things and ideas) into surpluses.

Biao Food Produce

• Fruits not harvested yet