Rice-Duck Farming, Excellent Organic Fertilizer, and New Laws in Organic Farming
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Rice-duck farming can mitigate global warming – study
The Integrated Rice-Duck Technology in organic farming can help mitigate global warming, said one scientist of a leading university in Mindanao.
Dr. Rachel Polestico, executive director of the Appropriate Technology Center (ATC or AproTech) of Cagayan de Oro City’s Xavier University (XU), said that ducks in the rice paddies effectively reduced the emission of the greenhouse gas methane.
Methane, which is produced when bacteria decomposes organic matter, is the second most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide.
According to studies on global warming, about one quarter of global methane emissions from human activities comes from livestock and the decomposition of animal manure.
But Polestico, a physicist and lecturer at XU’s South East Asia Rural Leadership Institute (SEARSOLIN), pointed out that various scientific studies on the effect of the Integrated Rice-Duck Technology have proven that ducks effectively suppressed methane emission from rice paddies because of the ducks constant paddling.
Citing a study on the amount of methanogens in the rice-duck agro-ecosystem done by the Chinese scientist Tsing Hua, Polestico stressed that “methane emission is proportional to the amount of methanogens in the soil.”
The Chinese research “showed that the seasonal law of variation of the amount of methanogens in paddy field was consistent with methane emission from paddy field. It also confirmed that the amount of methanogens was one of the main factors affecting the amount of methane emission from paddy field. This research shows that rice-duck system has suppressed the production of methanagens through breeding duck in paddy field and also achieved the goal of mitigating methane emission from paddy field,” she added. continue reading
An excellent organic fertilizer
“Manure tea” and biological pesticide make a good organic fertilizer that can considerably boost organic fertilizer production.
The technology was developed by the Central Luzon Agriculture and Resources Research and Development Consortium (CLARRDEC) based in the Central Luzon State University (CLSU) in the Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija.
CLARRDEC is one of 14 government regional R&D consortia coordinated by the Los Baños-based Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD).
The technology has been packaged by PCARRD into an information bulletin for the benefit of the vegetable farming sector.
According to CLARRDEC, manure tea is made by soaking a sack of 32 kilograms of animal manure in 120 liters of water. Water will penetrate and diffuse the solution out of the sack.
Then incubate the solution from one week to one month.
After a week, nitrogen in the solution ranges from 300 parts per million (ppm, measurement of chemical concentration) to 400 ppm and after a month, 800 to more than 1,000 ppm.
“Dilute the tea to 75 ppm to 100 ppm and use it to drench the leafy green vegetables at one liter per week,” recommended CLARRDEC, as reported by PCARRD’s Benjie Gibs.
For fruit vegetables, dilute the tea to 100 ppm to 180 ppm (lower rate is used if the plants are still young) and drench at the rate of one liter to 1.5 liters per hill per week.
Insect pests can also be controlled with the use of biopesticids such as oregano and mint leaves, hot pepper (siling labuyo) fruits, marigold leaves and flower, euphorbia stem and leaves, fire plant leaves and flower, yellow ginger (luyang dilaw) tuber, and Jatropha leaves.
To prepare botanical pesticide using these materials, weigh and chop one kilogram of material to be used then add two liters distilled water before blending.
Forment the solution for 24 hours. Squeese off the solid particles in a fine cloth. To be more effective, prepare the extract a day before spraying.
With a knapsack sprayer, spray the extract to runoff on plants at weekly interval. Dilute four cups of the extracts in 16 liters of water to produce one spray load of solution at 16 liters. continue reading
Lawmaker pushes organic farming
A lawmaker is pushing for organic farming, or a chemical-free agricultural method, for the promotion of a healthier citizenry, a more empowered sector and an environment-friendly atmosphere.
Quezon Rep. Proceso Alcala has filed a bill called Organic Farming Act of 2008 that seeks to establish a comprehensive organic farming program and designate a dedicated body to provide policy direction towards the promotion of organic farming.
He said farmers should always be the main beneficiaries in the agricultural cycle. “A farmer is a farmer. Rain or shine, profitable or not, he will still continue to farm, whatever happens.”
“I have carefully studied the agricultural system which, almost often than not, fertilizer suppliers and resellers stand to gain from. This leaves farmers with profit disproportionate to the amount of backbreaking labor they’ve provided, from planting to harvesting,” he said. continue reading
source: www.philstar.com, photo from realjapan.org
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