 |
SITUATIONAL BACKGROUND: SMALL RICE FARMERS
|
Introduction
Riding along the rural roads in Aklan Province on Panay Island in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines, one sees numerous signs in the rice fields, advertising the agro-chemicals being used. Frequently, men are seen spraying chemicals in the rice fields, wearing only shorts and a shirt - no goggles, gloves, shoes, or protective suits. After harvest, the fields are dotted with burning piles of rice straw. It is against the law to burn rice straw in Aklan, but the law has never been enforced.
Up close, one finds that the small-scale farmers are heavily in debt and burdened by the spiraling costs of the agro-chemicals they use to grow their crops. In addition, the productivity of their rice land is in decline.
A few farmers, however, are finding success in growing rice with few or no agro-chemicals, and using the rice straw as compost. The following case studies describe the experiences of a handful of these farmers. |
|
Rice production in Aklan Province
Rice is the number one crop in Aklan. In 1998, rice was grown on 21,901 ha, of which 9,490 were irrigated, 8,388 rainfed lowland, and 4,023 upland. The average yields in metric tons.(T) per hectare for 1998 were 3.67-4.0 for irrigated and 2.72-3.0 for rainfed. The small fanners, however, measure their yields in terms of cavans. The government standard is 42 kilograins per cavan, equivalent to 23.81 cavans per metric ton. In reality, the fanners in the case studies have cavans of about 40 kg each, or 25 cavans/T. This more conservative figure will be used for comparing farmers' yields with the provincial average. With 40 kg cavans, the provincial averages are at most 1 00 cavans/ha for irrigated and 75 cavans/ha for rainfed rice land.
The current exchange rate for pesos is about 50 pesos to a U. S. dollar.(2000)
Sustainable agriculture in Aklan
The Agricultural Training Institute at ASCA (Aklan State College of Agriculture) holds Farmer Field Schools in various barangays to teach IPM to local, small-scale rice fanners who have inigation. The school meets every week for 4 months to take the farmers through a complete season. ATI also offers training for fisherfolk in coastal resource management and in fish preservation, so that unsold fish are not wasted. ATI also held a seminar recently on the safe use of agro-chemicals.
Some of the extension workers based at ASCA would like to promote organic agriculture, but they fmd that the farmers perceive it to be less,.-profitable than chemical-intensive agriculture. They sometimes grow organically because they can't afford the chemicals and the seeds, but once hey can afford it, they return to chemical farming. (In this case, "organic" seems to refer only to not using chemicals, rather than a sophisticated, holistic method requiring training in soil fertility management, natural pest management, etc.)
The professor in charge of olericulture (vegetables) at ASCA, Mr. Navarra, is also interested in low-input production. He has established worm composting on campus and he makes the worms and locally adapted fruit trees and vegetable seeds available to the public.
Besides DEVELOPERS, other NGO's (non-govemmental organizations) promote sustainable agriculture on a smaller scale. As will be shown in the case of Ben Inocencio, some of the local agriculturists promote IPM.
DEVELOPERS Foundation
DEVELOPERS offers training in organic rice farming, organic vegetable gardening, local organizing and participation in local governance. It leads communities through participatory rural analysis and into barangay development planning. The organic rice farming methods are taught by trainers who are farmers themselves. They introduce improved traditional varieties (iTRV's) of rice to replace modem, hybrid, High Yield Varieties (HYV's), transplanting instead of direct seeding, and natural soil fertility and pest management. DEVELOPERS fills a different niche than ATI in that it works with farmers of rainfed and upland rice as well as irrigated rice, it teaches organic methods instead of IPM, it takes farmers through four seasons instead ofjust one, it uses RAESA (rice agro- ecosystem analysis) instead of AISA, and it combines agricultural technology training with community organizing and local governance activities.
|
|
 |
|
