Almeria rice farmers strive for Organic Farming

Fifteen (15) rice farmers from Brgy Sampao, Almeria, Biliran benefited the training on natural methods of farming, also known as “Organic Farming” held last June 5-6, 2008. These farmers gladly accepted the technology for, according to them, "it is the right time to adopt the farming methods due to high cost of commercial fertilizers and pesticides."

The activity was part of the consolidated effort of the Almeria LGU and the One Town One Product (OTOP) program to improve rice farming and processing practices of the farmers. The municipality of Almeria identified rice as their OTOP product.

The speakers of the said seminar were experts from Farm and Resource Management Institute (FARMI) of the Visayas State University (VSU), Visca, Baybay, Leyte. Dr. Zosimo dela Rosa discussed about organic farming methods especially in rice through the use of ‘Systems of Rice Intensification’ or SRI, a method of rice farming that does not use inorganic fertilizer (commercial fertilizer) but instead uses compost that can easily be produced by farmers. Another speaker, Mr. Juanito Poliquit, discussed the use of effective microorganism (EM) to return the fertility of land. He stressed that farming methods which uses commercial fertilizers makes the land idle and unproductive because the beneficial microorganism present in the soil are eliminated and killed by the contents of the fertilizers. Aside from EM, he also discussed how to make natural fertilizers through fermentation of fish waste, seaweeds, fruit and plant extracts. A topic on vermi-composting, or the production of organic fertilizer using earthworm as medium in converting farm waste into fertilizer was also demonstrated.

The training was sponsored by Almeria Municipal Agriculture Office (MAO) which provided the food for participants and accommodation of speakers, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI-Biliran) which provided training supplies and materials. The Department of Science and Technology through DOST Biliran PSTC serve as a technology broker by linking the technology source to the participants through the OTOP program. The beneficiaries of the said training, would benefit further consultancy through the DOST’s Comprehensive Agricultural Productivity Enhancement (CAPE) program which will tap the experts of FARMI to identify areas for further improvement of the farm practices of the Almeria farmers. Proposal for the said consultancies is now on process. (M.P. Letran, SRS II, DOST Biliran PSTC)