WATERLOGGED AREAS CAN BE MADE PRODUCTIVE

Swampy and waterlogged areas can be made productive. Farmers need only to find the best possible crop which can withstand the water-logging and the imbalance of nutrients due to stagnant water.

The Integrated Farm System Demonstration Project of the Municipality of Barotac Viejo established the “Abalong Project” specifically to showcase the productivity of a waterlogged farm. Waterlogging and the eventual abandonment by farmers of their unproductive farms have become one of the problems faced by the Municipal Agriculture Office. To solve this, Mayor Raul “Boboy” Tupas challenged Municipal Agriculturist Jesus Balila to develop a technology for the farmers of his municipality.

MAO Jess Balila met with the staff of IFS and identified the waterlogged area below the hog project as the site of the demonstration project. The area is waterlogged eight to nine months a year and only dries up from March to May. Rice planted there manifests severe Zinc deficiency and is prone to attack by snails or golden kuhol. For the last three to four years, rice harvested from the area is way below normal the local production average.

A market study was first undertaken. It was found that Ilongos like takway, the runners of a certain strain of gabi or colocasia esculentum. This strain is water loving and develop runners in order to multiply. Takway or abalong runners are gathered in the wild or swampy areas and sold daily at the local market. On the vending tables at the public market, the bundled runners would look like string beans of sitao unless given a close look. A small bundle would sell at P5.00 and a big roll at P15.00

It is said that both Ilonggos and Ilocanos like this vegetables. At the NEPA Q market, it is also called takway and a big roll would cost about P20.00. to P25.00 depending on the season. During summer months when its availability is scarce, takway would sell as high as P35.00 per big bundle.

Once decided that takway would be a big seller, an area of about 1,000 sq. meters was cleared. The area was below the manure holding pond of the piggery. The hog project’s manure and other waste are first filtered by the polyethylene biogas generator and only the liquid effluent coming from the unit exits to the holding pond. Water from the holding pond stays for about three weeks before exiting to the abalong area thereby ensuring that it has undergone complete decomposition.

There was no need to plow and fertilize as the effluent from the hog farm fed into the area, giving a rich spongy soil ideal for growth of gabi yet will not provide good growth conditions for rice. Abalong was planted in straight lines at 70 cm by 70 cm. No chemicals were used and only occasional weeding was done. Where possible, water was kept at a maximum of 20 cm by providing an adequate drainage, although it cannot fully drain the area.

Harvesting of the runners started about two months from planting, about the first week of February 2008. For the first three weekly harvestings, the project yielded about 12 large bundles which sold at P180.00. Thereafter, the harvests which is done every Wednesday afternoon ranged between 25-30 bundles selling between P300.00 to P360.00.

Since 2008 was fairly wet, the project area shows no sign of drying up and runner production has not slumped. The continuous flow of effluent has contributed to the continued robust growth and high runner production. Aside from the high number of runners produced, MAO Jess observed that wholesale vendors prefer the project’s takway compared to other gatherers who get theirs from the wild. They were about twice in size and in length. This is due to the rich soil provided by the effluent from the hog project.

Profitability of the Abalong Project:

For the 1,000 sq. meters project, the farm spent 8 man-days to clear and plant the seedlings at P180.00 per day or a total of P1,440.00. For the first weeding, PP720.00 was spent. The farm paid a laborer for half day to harvest and sort 25 bundles or about P90.00. Assuming that the lifespan of the project will be two years, the farm will probably be productive for at least 90 weeks and even it the production will remain steady at 25 bundles per week at P15.00 per bundle, an average of P375.00 per week will be realized.

Minus direct labor of P90.00, the farm will have a weekly income of P285.00 or a gross of about P 25,650.00 for two years or, P12,825.00 per year from the 1,000 sq. meters waterlogged area. Minus the cost of establishment of P 2,160.00, the farm will net P 23,490.00 for two years and P11,745.00 per year. On a per hectare basis, this is P117,450.00 per annum, about twice one can get from a hectare of inbred rice!

Of course there are other considerations once a farmer expands the scale, like oversupply and the tendency for the wholesaling vendor to dictate the market price of the takway. The problem of maintenance of the fertility of the soil will also surface but there are solutions to that like the integration of a small hog finishing, duck raising or even a chicken raising project as part of the farming system of any adopter.

MAO Jess and Mayor Raul Tupas said that these are models that can be adopted and the crops can be varied for as long as they adopt or fit into the waterlogging conditions. For instance, water chestnuts can also be explored. So can other technologies like the Indonesian Sorjan and the floating vegetable beds of the Mekong Delta.

“At the IFS, we explore all technologies that will benefit our people”, said Mayor Tupas. Waterlogging is a major problem for our farmers towards the end of the irrigation systems and where there are no exits to lower areas. Our farmers abandon their farms and turn to farm labor which is even lower paying and makes them marginally productive. By teaching them new technologies, we also teach them the rudiments of agri-business since they will be forced to utilize family labor to process the takway and bring them to the market by themselves. In the future, there may be other crops that we can plant in the waterlogged areas of our municipality”.

“Aside from the takway or waterlogged farm project, we are also developing models for the dryland hillside farms. We have seen that SALT or Sloping Agri Land Technology is labor intensive and fitted only for small family-based approach where family labor can be tapped beyond normal working hours. We are exploring other technologies especially biased toward plantation farming like mangoes which can tolerate dryland and dry hillsides suffering from at least 6 months of dry weather”, says Mayor Tupas.