The Manilla Bulletin- February 22, 2012, 4:13pm
By MELPHA M. ABELLO


MANILA, Philippines — When Edwin Jimenez, 61, of Mabilo, New Washington, Aklan, decided to stop using chemical pesticides, he did not only get higher yield and a premium price for his produce. He was able to cut production costs while continuously innovating and creating ways that would also benefit his fellow farmers and the environment.

Edwin has been into farming for the last nine years, taking charge of the 1.6-hectare family-owned farm which was initially planted to fruit trees and vegetables. Two years ago, he went into rice farming. In between farm works, he devotes part of his time to the family’s refrigeration and air-conditioning business in Kalibo, which is a few kilometers away from his farm.

Prior to this, Edwin worked in Middle East for 19 years as a plumber and aircon specialist. There, he observed that even in the desert, crops like fruits and vegetables could grow vigorously using scientific method of farming. So when his contract ended in 2000, he decided to go home for good, with plans of putting up a small aircon shop and later attend to his family’s long-neglected farm in his mind.

Today, Edwin harvests an average of 40 kilograms (kg) of lettuce every week from open field. He sells green lettuce at P800 per 15 kg to local buyers. Red lettuce is more expensive at P150 per kg. He also has few hills of hot pepper which gives him added income as the fruits sell at not less than P50 per kg in Aklan.

Aside from these, Edwin grows green onions, pechay, sweet pepper, sitao, eggplant, cucumber and ampalaya. He also derives considerable income from livestock, coconut, banana, and fruit-bearing trees which include mango, lanzones, chico, rambutan, jackfruit, and pomelo.

In addition, Edwin has been getting good harvests from his inbred and hybrid rice planted to 2,000 square meters and 4,100 square meters, respectively, in last year’s dry cropping season. His inbred rice yielded an average of 175 cavans per hectare (cav/ha), while hybrid rice gave him 200 cav/ha. This, he said, can be considered a good yield, taking into account the previous state of the soil in his farm which was heavily dependent on chemical input.

Edwin said that his good yield is the result of good nutrient management that he has been adopting in his farm. This has been an improvement from his first few years in farming – when yield was very low yet the production cost was high – leaving him a very low profit margin. With the price of farm inputs increasing, Edwin was prompted to find a cheaper but effective alternative.

Edwin is thankful to the advancement in today’s information technology like the Internet, where he learned about scientific farming practices. He also learned about vermiculture, organic composting and integrated pest management which he eventually applied in his farm.

With the help also of various reading references, Edwin was able to design four units of carbonizers which he fabricated in the family’s machine shop using recycled aircon cylinders. He uses these for the production of carbonized rice hull (CRH) which he judiciously applies as soil conditioner in combination with organic fertilizer and compost. This practice, he said, has been essential in gradually bringing back the productivity of the soil in his farm.

For his vegetables and fruits, Edwin absolutely adopts zero-chemical in production; while he practices balanced fertilization (a combination of organic and organic fertilizers) for his rice crop.

To supplement the nutrients needed by his crops, Edwin applies a concentrated organic fertilizer called Masinag. He uses this on his vegetables, fruit trees and rice as recommended. Edwin swears that using Masinag helped him increase rice yield by as much as 30 percent, cut 50 percent of his inorganic fertilizer expenses, and totally eliminated the use of chemical pesticides.

Edwin said that even without spraying chemical pesticides, he has no worries on pests attacking his crops because non-spraying increases the population of beneficial organisms in the field that act as natural enemies of pests.

Recently, Edwin tried applying wood vinegar to his crops. Wood vinegar is a byproduct of dry distillation-cooling down-condensation of organic materials and is claimed to accelerate plant growth, control germination of pathogenic microorganisms, eliminate noxious odor in livestock, and enhance beneficial microorganisms in soil, among others, as it contains 200 kinds of elements essential for plant growth. He dilutes 1 part of this with 30 parts of water before spraying.

He also gets the same benefit from using vermi tea that he produces using his own vermi tea brewer. The brewer, which he modified based on existing designs from his readings, can produce vermi tea from vermicast in 72 hours. The liquid extract, which he dilutes with water in 1:10 ratio and sprayed to plants weekly, is a good foliar fertilizer for his vegetables, fruit trees, and rice. He sells this to fellow farmers at P20 per liter. Edwin also grows azzolla as green manure during land preparation.

To get rid of weeds, Edwin designed a portable rotary weeder which can be used in vegetables and ricefields. It works on a single row or double rows with adjustable width up to 20 centimeters between rows. The weeder, which is also made of recycled metals from Edwin’s shop, also functions as a cultivator at the same time as it promotes aeration through off-barring of soil. Irrigation water is sourced from a deep well through pump powered by a 7-hp gasoline engine.

Source: How Aklan farmer increases yields