Difference between revisions of "Sorsogon Province, Philippines"

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Sorsogon Province, Philippines (view source)

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==[[Sorsogon News]]==
==[[Sorsogon News]]==
'''Sorsogon water firm introduces SALT program to abolish 'kaingin''''
'''World Food Program conducts disaster risk preparedness training in 3 municipalities.'''
*Source: http://balita.ph/2012/02/23/sorsogon-water-firm-introduces-salt-program-to-abolish-kaingin/
*Source: http://pia.gov.ph/news/index.php?menu=2&webregion=R05&article=791330042815
*February 23, 2012 10:43 am
*Friday 24th of February 2012
:by Danny O. Calleja
:by   (MAL/IAG, PIA Sorsogon)




SORSOGON CITY, Feb. 22 – A cure to the terrible headache being given by "kaingin" or slash-and-burn farming to local forest protection advocates has been found and the water utilities firm here has introduced it in water shed areas under its keeping.
SORSOGON CITY, Feb. 24 (PIA) -- The World Food Program (WFP) conducted a three-day training on disaster preparedness and risk reduction for three municipalities here in line with technical support it pledged to the country affected by a recent earthquake and floods, a WFP release said.
Kaingin has been practiced by mountain settlers here since time immemorial and the remedy introduced by the Sorsogon City Water District (SCWD) is the Sloping Agricultural Land Technology (SALT), an upland farming method which was first practiced in Mindanao way back in 1978.
SALT, otherwise known as contour hedgerow intercropping technology (CHIAT), is a system in which dense hedgerows of fast growing perennial nitrogen-fixing tree or shrub species are planted along contour lines, thus creating a living barrier that traps sediments and gradually transforms the sloping land to terraced land.
The training, which started Feb. 21, included participants from the local governments of Juban, Casiguran and Bulan in Sorsogon province, and officials from the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (SPDRMO).
The nitrogen-fixing hedgerows lining the terrace help improve soil fertility through nitrogen fixation at the roots and incorporation of the hedgerow trimmings into the soil. The hedgerows both markedly reduce soil erosion and contribute to improving and maintaining soil fertility.
 
Many public and private organizations in the country, including the Departments of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform believe in the potential of this technology for upland development and have adopted it for their clientele.
The activity will reinforce hardware and financial support and relevant training and planning activities in regional, provincial and local Disaster Risk Reduction Management Offices (DRRMOs), the WFP said.
SALT farms, established with the help of these organizations, now occupy around 10,000 hectares of upland areas throughout the country.
 
Rolando Barboño, the SCWD general manager on Wednesday said they recently started promoting the SALT program to upland farmers in various watershed areas being maintained by the agency within the Bacon-Manito (BacMan) geothermal energy reservation.
The three municipalities were identified by the provincial government as areas with high vulnerability and recommended for inclusion in the training.
BacMan is a 250,000-hectare protected forest area where the Energy Development Corporation (EDC) generates over 110 megawatts of geothermal power for the Luzon Grid.
The SALT program, according to Barboño is under the SCWD’s assistance to environment and resources that forms part of its Corporate Social Responsibility program.
Apart from being an environmental preservation tool, the SALT project is also an alternative source of livelihood for families living in the slopes of the watershed. “We have experts teaching them contour farming,” Barboño said.
The WFP is the food arm of the United Nations System and acts in response to urgent situations specifically along disaster stricken areas.
SALT is a simple, applicable, low-cost method of upland farming. It is a scheme developed for small farmers with few tools, little capital and little knowledge of modern agriculture.
 
The method forms an alley farming in which field and perennial crops are grown in bands five meters wide between contoured rows of leguminous trees and shrubs. The latter are thickly planted in double rows to form hedgerows.
The species used in the hedgerows include Leucaena leucocephala, L. diversifolia, Calliandra calothyrsus, Gliricidia sepium, Flemingia macrophylla and Desmodium rensonii.
Farmers are encouraged to use a combination of these species or other fast-growing, fast-coppicing and high-biomass leguminous trees or shrubs found to be suitable on their respective farms.
Rows of perennial crops such as coffee, cacao, citrus and banana are planted on every third alley created by contoured hedgerows. The alleys not occupied by permanent crops are planted alternately to cereals such as com, upland rice, sorghum, sweet potato, melon and pineapple and legumes like mungbean, string, soybean and peanut.
This cyclical cropping provides a farmer with several harvests throughout the year to earn an average monthly income of P2,500, according to Barboño.
The water district, he explained is assisting these farmers to adapt this kind of farming primarily to curtail the practice of kaingin system that severely destroys the forest that the watersheds need.
Other than kaingin farming, the most common sources of livelihood for upland dwellers here are timber poaching and charcoal-making that are both illegal.
Through the SALT program, he added, these people are taught how to love the trees and refrain from cutting them for their own protection and economic welfare.
It would also help the SCWD in preserving its watersheds from where it draws over three million cubic meters of water yearly for its about 10,000 water concessionaires in the city, according to Marlon Galias, the water district’s executive assistant.
“We have under our keeping over 1,000 hectares of watershed areas," Galias added. (PNA)
LAP/LQ/DOC/cbd/




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