Farmers Can Cope with Climate Change (1)

Farm Diversification and Integration

by Larry Locara

This year's erratic weather should serve as a wake up call for farmers and agricultural development workers. Rains in February and March, long dry spell in July to September last year are only the first indication that something has gone wrong with the climate systems worldwide. Watermelon crops of Oton farmers were gravely affected. So are the mangoes of Cabatuan, Guimbal, Igbaras and Tubungan. Meanwhile rice farmers were having a bounty harvest since the majority especially in the flood plains of Iloilo enjoyed sufficient rains that allowed them a third crop for the year. Even now, they are preparing for the first a May crop because there is still residual water from the previous crop.

This erratic weather however spells disaster for the farmer in the long run. They should be lucky if their particular crop suits the weather system that arrived. The rice crop is one example. Rice farmers enjoyed good harvests because of the La Nina phenomenon but it was a disaster for the watermelon and mango crops because they need a dry spell to mature and be disease free. On a general note, heavy rains or even typhoons in the midst of summer months cause heavy flooding that destroys properties and losses of human lives.

Wikipedia defines climate change as a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions, or in the distribution of weather around the average conditions (i.e., more or fewer extreme weather events). Climate change is caused by factors that include oceanic processes (such as oceanic circulation), variations in solar radiation received by Earth, plate tectonics and volcanic eruptions, and human-induced alterations of the natural world; these latter effects are currently causing global warming, and "climate change" is often used to describe human-specific impacts. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change). Many experts claim however that it was mostly human abuse that brought this disastrous global phenomenon into being.

This being already a given, many farmers are asking what they and their governments can do about it so as to mitigate and lessen the impact of climate change especially in their farming, their families and their way of life. There may be macro and micro approaches that somehow would help lessen the impact and allow farmers and their families to cope.

Diversification and Integration:

Time and again, agricultural savants warned about mono-crops and their disastrous results. While the intention is to produce as much single crop to feed certain markets and industries, large tracts of land grown with single crops lead to the modification of ecosystems whereby existing environments that had become stable for millions of years have been destroyed and its inhabitants, from micro-organisms to plants to animals are also destroyed or forced to vacate. The single crop will then encourage certain pests to multiply because of the presence of food. The classic example here is brown planthopper which was once a minor pest but has now evolved to be a major head ache for the farmers who now need large volumes of chemical poisons just to control them. Numerous studies and actual experiences now point to diversification and integration as one key to coping with climate change and other human farming errors.

Diversification means that the farmers establish many other crops and farming ventures aside from their major crop. For example on a one hectare farm which can earn a farmer about P60,000.0 per year, he can grow livestock like goats and cattle fatteners which can be fed with hay, rice stubbles and grass growing on the dikes and he can add about P20,000.00 more per year while still adding 30-50 ducks which feed on the snails and wasted rice grains, he can still add about P5,000 more to his income aside from providing more protein to the growing children.

Diversification also means adding value to the existing crop like processing some of the rice into food which the farm wife can sell in nearby schools or barangay centers. Processing would add at least 30% to the original value of a commodity. Selling milled rice directly to consumers would make 100 kilograms worth P1,400.00 of palay into P 2,050. worth of milled rice while the farmer still gets about 12 kilograms of rice bran worth P144.00 which he can feed to his chickens and ducks. He can go further to turn his duck eggs into “balut”, a favorite of Filipinos, and sell it for P12.00 per egg instead of just selling it for P6.00. The cost of production for balut is about P2.20 per egg.

Integration means growing and raising as many crops and livestock at the same time or in sequence in the farmer's land. By growing complementary crops and livestock, the farmer achieves many objectives. First is intensification of land use. Using crop interrelationship like legumes and grassy species, sun-loving and shade-loving plants, the farmer can plant two or more crops on a single area. Some experts note that the main crop can still produce up to 100% of its potential yield even with integrated drops beside them on a row while the complementing crop underneath can still produce up to 70% of its potential. For example on a second season in rain fed farms, the farmer can establish a sorghum crop as main while planting munggo in between. Given one hectare, sorghum can produce about 3,000 kilograms while munggo will produce about 800 kilograms. The income would be more than the returns if the farmer will plant just sorghum or munggo which has a potential of only about 1,200 kilograms per hectare under standard culture.

Our recent article cited the experience of Dingle farmers who accepted the Community Participatory Action Research where they learned hands on, the intensive cropping of rice for two seasons and the third crop is vegetables while year round, they raise improved native chickens. The participants gave testimonies that the action research had improved their incomes and family health dramatically that they now have institutionalized the system as part of their farming methodologies.

Livestock can also be introduced into the integrated system. The purpose is not only for added income but also as a supportive component where the manure of livestock becomes a vital factor in improving the fertility of the soil. This is especially relevant when the farmer has shifted to organic farming. For example, a small hog project growing about 10 to 15 finishers per load is added to a one hectare rice farm. This would reduce the rice area by about 500 square meters thereby reducing rice production efficiency by about 5% computed to about P2,500.00 per year but the added net income from the sold hogs would be at least P20,000 per year without yet factoring in the savings from purchases of organic fertilizers because hog manure is a rich source of organic nutrients.

In areas where the agro-ecology had changed from fairly wet to dry land and rainfall had become erratic it may be prudent to study and try other crops. Hills and slopes in Western Mindanao where natives like the Subanen tribes had long existed, a little known grain crop known as adlai had been their staple. Rich in protein (14% CP), this grain is milled, cooked like rice and sold as specialty food. It is now being looked into seriously by technical people as an add-on crop for dry areas after rice or corn. Sweet sorghum, an arid crop is also being promoted by the ICRISAT or the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics as a dual crop: food and as source of ethanol.

Effects of Integration and Diversification on the Environment:

Diversification and integration helps improve the ecology and micro climate of the farm. Planting trees especially fruits and timber trees will not only improve shade but also act as permanent carbon sequesters especially when the farm is also stocked with livestock. Other farms with livestock also add a methane gas generator to sequester bio-gas or methane from the manures of farm animals. Bio-gas is used as fuel for household cooking but if not tapped, they rise to the atmosphere to react with ozone thus adding to the depletion of earth's first line of defense against intense ultraviolet rays.

While adding more income to the farmer, diversification and intensification also reduces costs. By planting between rows of the main crop, the farmer also reduces weed incidence while also adding more vegetation to allow the main crop from being attacked directly by its main pests. Actual farmer experience documented testify to the benefits derived from these practices.

Diversifying and integrating also reduces farmers' risks. The erratic weather systems often wreak havoc on the farmers crops that leaves them nothing after the onslaught. When the farmer is dependent on one crop alone, this will spell disaster for him and his family. However if he has integrated other crops or projects in the farm, he can still survive and grow the next crop. (To be continued)