To avoid further dependence on traders for pesticides and fertilizers, farmers in the municipality of Poona Bayabao in Lanao del Sur were taught to adapt organic farming, and made to learn the ways of producing organic fertilizers.
Some 38 farmers, four of them female, sat down with facilitators and trainers from the group, Succeed Global, a partner of Maradeca Inc., on August 13-14 for a training on organic farming through actual making of organic fertilizers for palay and vegetables.
Facilitators allowed participants to make and process organic fertilizers “so that they will grasp the process of the fermented organic fertilizers”.
The training on organic fertilizer was highlighted by the making of “Fermented Syete Pares`” or seven pairs of different kinds of leaves, a fertilizer concoction.
The facilitators, Mr. Joselito Rabang and Mr. Poly Lantican, an agriculture development
specialist of Succeed Global, a non government organization based in Davao City, said they have advocated organic farming to farmers “in order to produce safe and healthy organically-grown food at lower cost and self-sustaining natural farming system”.
The training aimed to inculcate the importance of organic fertilizer in farm yields.
One of the facilitator explained that “too much use of chemical fertilizers will spoil the fertility of the soil or field thus it affect the farm activity of every farmers in the long run”.
The training wanted to enhance the capacity of the rural farmers and other community people in promoting sustainable, friendly agriculture farming practices through the use of organic fertilizers.
Hadji Salic R. Abdulmadid, a participant, said that “the training is very helpful to us as farmers because we are too dependent on the chemical fertilizer without knowing that a more effective organic fertilizer is within our reach also it is a great help to lessen our expenses in using chemical fertilizers”.
“I am encouraging our co-farmers to adopt and shift to organic farming because this is the answer to our dilemma: the expensive chemical fertilizers,” he added.
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