FLASHBACK

ORGANIC FARMING

by BIENVENIDO P. CORTES

Sometime in the mid-80s, organic farming was promoted and implemented in some areas in Western Visayas most especially in Iloilo province .

In the editorial note of the Organic Farming Journal published by the Organic Farmers Association of Iloilo, it asked “Organic Farming?”

“With the present high cost of chemical fertilizers, most of our farmers cannot any more afford to apply the correct amount of fertilizers needed by their crops.

The return to organic farming will bring benefits to our country in the form of a healthier soil, crops, animals, people and environment. It will mean the employment of rural labor, savings in foreign exchange we pay for imported chemical fertilizers and pesticides. It will result to bigger income for the rural population.

The use of crop residues, animal manures, by-products of industries (centrals) such as mud press or filter cake, garbage are good supplements to chemical fertilizers.  Our farmers are now looking for alternatives to chemical farming technology. It is now realized in high government circles as well as among discerning scientists and researchers that organic wastes of crops and animals and biological sources are good substitute for chemical fertilizers.

Based on an analysis of organic farming case study, organic farming is a production system which avoids or largely excludes the use of synthetically compounded fertilizers, pesticides, growth regulators, and livestock additives.  To the maximum extent possible, organic farming relies upon crop rotation, crop residues, animal manures, legumes, green manures and off farm organic wastes to supply plant nutrients, and to control insect pests, and weeds.

The different practices that have been developed by  organic farmers through the centuries are aimed principally at producing a fertile soil which grows healthy crops and animals that in turn nourish healthy people.

Organic farming suits a large holding which are becoming smaller as the population multiplies, available labor which today is idle a great part of the year, intensive farming which cannot be sustained with chemicals and pesticides, compost farming which uses only one-third of the energy consumed on chemical farms while producing as much.  Multiple cropping which diversifies crop production yields bigger income and reduces pests and diseases because it promotes stability of the farm ecosystem.

Mixed cropping, meaning raising plants and animals together and not one or the other only. Planting legumes as natural source of nitrogen and potash that are cheaper and non-polluting. Superficial cultivation of the land which conserves the stored nitrogen in the soil in the form of organic matter. Too much cultivation and deep plowing oxidize the reserve of nitrogen and destroy soil fertility.

These are the most important attributes or characteristics of organic farming. These agricultural practices of the Orient, especially in China, have passed the supreme test in that they have beome almost permanent as those of the primeval forest. In contrast, the chemical method spoiled the environment, increased cancer and other ailments, and failed to maintain soil fertility. /MP