The productivity of farmers in selected bio-farming clusters will soon be enhanced through a project that will upscale the application of S&T interventions in organic vegetables production.
The project, “Increasing farmers’ income in vegetable bio-farming practices through S&T-based interventions”, is funded by PCAARRD and is aligned with its Vegetable Industry Strategic S&T Plan. The plan has the target of increasing the average yield by 31.7%.
Recently, staff members of PCAARRD and the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) headed by Raul Montemayor conducted a field assessment at Mayantoc and Papaac, Tarlac and an inception meeting in Camiling, Tarlac.
FFF is a national organization of small farmers established in 1953. It actively promotes the farmers’ welfare through the introduction of S&T.
During the field assessment in Mayantoc and Papaac, Tarlac, the group observed that FFF farmers use plastic mulch, carbonized rice hull, and nursery and seedling tray for seedling preparation. They also produce their own organic fertilizer such as vermicompost. Further, the farmers prepare their biopesticide using the concoction of “makabuhay”, “tubli”, and vinegar distillate from charcoal making.
One of the problems brought out during the field visit was the low market price of the farmers’ produce during the harvest season.
With the project, farmers will be clustered and marketing ventures with supermarkets, malls, local hotels, and restaurants will be established to address this problem.
At the inception meeting, the importance of establishing baseline information on the production status of all participating farmers and the level of productivity among the clusters as an indicator on the improvement of their productivity was emphasized. Corollary to this was the formulation of strategies and mechanisms for gathering the agronomic and economic data to gauge the success of the project.