Introduction
Tay Pedro also uses ducks on his rice farm to control pestsTay Pedro farms 1.2 ha in the tranquil barangay of Aglucay. He owns 0.5 ha of rice land and the rest he rents at the rate of 8 cavans of rice per cropping. Although the land is irrigated, he grows only 2 crops per year of rice. He started using organic methods in 1994, with no transition. If the crop has a rampant disease or pest problem, he uses small, strategic amounts of chemicals, but for most croppings he uses no chemicals at all. Along with Henry Jamandron, he learned about LEISA methods from VICTO in '93, and became a farmer trainer for them. Like Henry, Tay Pedro learned additional organic methods from DEVELOPERS.
Before going organic, Tay Pedro used HYV seeds, but now he uses iTRV's such as 41-42 and 19NF. He saves seed from each crop, but he grows different varieties each season. As a farmer- trainer for DEVELOPERS, he operates the back-up station for iTRV's in Aglucay, which tries 25 varieties of rice each season, and he can get seed from other barangays.

Tay Pedro tills his rice field with a turtle tractor that he has owned since about 1990. He also gets paid to till other local farms.

Whereas before going organic Tay Pedro grew only rice, he now has 2000 m2 of his land devoted to tilapia and catfish, and he grows small amounts of vegetables such as sitao, okra, sweet potato and eggplant. He plans to start a few fruit trees. He also has chickens and 2 pigs. All but the rice are for family consumption only, but the fishponds may someday produce enough to sell. When fully stocked, the tilapia pond has 6000 fish.

Soil management
Before attending VICTO, Tay Pedro used five bags of 14-14-14 and four bags of urea every season, and he burned the rice straw. In '94 he stopped buying fertilizer. He ceased burning the straw except when the crop had tungro or another disease. He has been using compost made of rice straw, leaves of acacia and eacahuate trees (both legunies), and manure from neighbors' cows and carabaw. He recently started making verinicompost from worms dispersed by DEVELOPERS, which he will use for the first time on the next crop.

Pest control
Tay Pedro now scouts for pests and beneficials each morning and afternoon. For insect problems, he uses herbal compounds, and as a preventive he burns leaves and plastic at the edge of the field. He controls weeds mainly by water management. He notes that it's important for the land to be completely level to be able to control the water enough to kill the weeds. Transplanting the rice seedlings also helps limit the weeds.

Comparison
Whereas he used to spend more than P15,000 per season for labor and supplies, Tay Pedro now spends only about P6200 per season. This is divided into P1200 for labor for land preparation and P5000 for transplanting labor. He only transplants in the June planting, which is the rainy season. In the dry season October planting, he direct seeds the field himself. He spends nothing on material inputs now.

Before going organic, the revenues from 90% of each crop were used to pay off bank loans for the agro-chemicals. The bank charged 18% per annuni interest. Now Tay Pedro sells only 2/3 of the harvest, keeping 1/3 for his family. His family consists of himself, his wife, a 24-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old, adopted son.

Besides providing a better income, he also finds that the rice tastes better now, and that his health is better. Before he had frequent coughs and general poor health, and he had to go to the doctor sometimes, but now he doesn't.

He finds that the organic method requires more work on his part, in making and spreading the compost, and transplanting in the rainy season. When he direct seeds he uses 120 kg of seed, and when he transplants he uses only 3 5 kg.

The yields are lower now than before, averaging about 80 cavans for 1 ha compared to 1 08 cavans per ha before. The lower yield is more than compensated by the drastic reduction in costs. Not even counting for inflation, the difference in cost is about 59% for the rainy season when ~planting is done. In comparison, the reduction in yield is about 26%.
Case 2