PALAYAMANAN IMPROVES FARM FAMILY'S INCOME AND NUTRITION

PALAYAMANAN IMPROVES FARM FAMILY'S INCOME AND NUTRITION


“Rice farming alone will not enrich the farmer, especially if he owns only a hectare or less. Even if he applies the latest technology and the maximum inputs, the most he can earn in one hectare in one year is probably
not enough to allow him to lift his family beyond the poverty threshold”, says Mr. Carmelo Oren, Provincial Rice Coordinator and Division Chief at the Iloilo Provincial Agriculture Office.

But Oren added that there are alternatives available to the rice farmer now. Even with less than one hectare, a rice farmer can earn more than P200,000 per year with sound planning, a bit of capital and plenty of hard work. Hard work anyway, according to Oren, is the farmer's partner all his life.

One viable and successful model that the Department of Agriculture is promoting is the Palayamanan Model, coined after two words: palayan (rice farm) and yamanan (gold mine), or literally, making the rice farm a gold mine. The concept revolves around intensive and integrated farming where every inch of space in the farm is utilized for production of various crops and livestock. Through the years, the Palayamanan models have evolved not only in the research centers but also in actual farmer led experiences. In these models, the farmers themselves have proven that given basic inputs, they will be able to innovate and in the process, improve their farming technologies and income.

The Western Visayas Integrated Agricultural Research Center has its permanent area for the Palayamanan Model, said Oren, who grew up in the compound because his father was once an employee of the agency. Now with his wife being employed as Assistant Center head, he also collaborates with the center in developing technologies which can be applied in the Province and which is now being field tested and developed at the AART or the Agri-Aqua Research and Technology Center in Nanga, Pototan.

The Palayamanan model had been tested for more than a decade now and those who embraced the system are now enjoying better incomes from the different crops and livestock raised. At the WVIARC, the model had been set up in about half hectare of land. Rice remains to be the main crop. Although the dikes are small, these are planted regularly to different crops particularly pole beans (sitao) on one dike and tomatoes and okra in several.

Rice is planted two to three crops per year depending on the availability of water. However when water is not available, a third crop of munggo or any available legume is planted for food, added income and as green manure or fertilizer for the next crop of rice. The rice farm at the Palayamanan area is planted to various types of rice not only for experimental purposes but also for validation of rice researches in other areas of the country where different strains and varieties had been experimented with. In certain periods, purple or red rice varieties are also planted and the seeds are for sale or distribution to other interested farmers. Red and purple rice are now in demand due to the new awareness of people on their nutritional value.

Rice hay and stalks (when cut and piled) are a valuable resource in organic farming. Decomposed rice hay makes the soil loose and the rich nutrients contained are gradually released to plants. The usual practice is to add 5 to 10 kilograms of decomposed rice hay and also rice hulls per square meter in the garden plot. This is enough to supply the vegetables with enough organic matter and additional fertilizer needed are usually added in the form of diluted solution which is applied regularly (sometime weekly) up to maturity.

Munggo seeds broadcast over rice stubbles can produce about 600 to 800 kilograms per hectare. At about P80 per kilogram, this would mean at least P5,000 added income from the grains alone. Legume leaves, stalks and roots is high in protein which when decomposed are rich in nitrates and phosphates which are needed by the rice plants and when made available by the legumes. Legumes can deliver as much as 50 kilograms of pure nitrogen which can be converted to about 5 bags of ammonium sulphate can save the farmers about P4,000.00.

An area of about 1,000 sq. meters was set aside for continuous vegetable production. Since the area is low, a deep canal was dug around the area and planted to gabi and kangkong. It is also seeded with tilapia fingerlings which can be harvested or caught by hook and line when they have reached the right size. The water in the canal is also used to water the vegetables. The canal makes watering the vegetables more conveniently. In conventional gardening, water is usually fetched from a well some distance away and this adds to the labor cost.

The vegetable area is laid out in such a way as there is an insurance of regular harvests. Usually, short term high priced vegetables are planted in much of the area so that the farmers are assured of income in the shortest possible time. Pechay, lettuce, cabbage and chinese kangkong are some of the regular money-makers since they can be harvested in about 30 days. Planting pattern is also observed so that there is also an insurance of lesser pest overload. Normally, planting an area of the same or related species will encourage pest build up where later planting of the same type of vegetables will make them more susceptible to pest and disease attack. The usual practice is to schedule only two relay planting of one particular species and plant a different type for the next.

Fruiting vegetables like okra and eggplants are another money maker. These are planted on the fringes of the vegetable area and in the dikes so that both the borders and the dikes are also made intensively productive. Squash and other vine vegetables had been planted over the area dug for fish pond. This practice has made that are productive not only in the pond where tilapia and other fish species grow but also on the trellises over the pond which has become productive with squash, patola and sometime, upo.

An area had also been allocated for free range chickens. The area had been fenced so that the chickens can graze on the different grass species planted For shade, a few trees of ratiles or local cherry had been planted. The small fruits which are extra sweet are said to be favored by the chickens and are a source of food for them too. Hay and other degradable plant materials had been piled regularly to encourage earthworms to colonize and become protein rich feed for the chickens. The rice chaffs and broken rice from the field are also thrown into the free range area and the chickens can feed at will. Rice with enough grain content are eaten by the chickens but those which are empty are left and in time will decompose to become nutrient rich organic matter which again are harvested together with the chicken manure for use as organic material both for the gardens and the rice areas.

Other components that may be included in the Palayamanan are the pigs and goats but may have been presently discontinued at the WVIARC model. Both pigs and goats add not only income for the farmer but rich manure which again serves to enrich the soil in the growing area. A module of 5 pigs per growing period of four months require only a space of about 12 to 15 sq. meters. There are now models where the pigs are grown in a probiotic bed and they don't require to be bathe or cleaned daily. By the end of the growing period where they have grown to about 90 kilograms, they have also produced about 1.5 metric tons of organic wastes which can fertilizer or enrich about 1,000 square meters of garden or rice growing area..

An intensively managed Palayaman can earn for the farmer at least P150,000 per year depending on the crops and the livestock that he grows and the market. He also supplies his family with enough food particularly protein rich chickens and eggs, and, nutritious vegetables grown naturally or organically.