MBRLC: Helping farmers attain abundant life

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

IN JOHN 10:10, Jesus said: "I have come that you might have life - and have it more abundantly."

In a way, that is also the main objective of the Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center (MBRLC) Foundation Inc. During its 30th anniversary, then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo hailed: "The MBRLC has been at the forefront of improving the lives of Mindanaoans, both physically and spiritually. You have provided our people, especially our upland farmers, with the necessary guidance in order to become productive members of society."

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Through the years, MBRLC has received several recognitions and awards. Government agencies - Department of Agriculture, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Science and Technology, and Department of Agrarian Reform - have recognized the MBRLC for the development of various technologies that uplift the standard of living of Filipinos.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization bestowed a Silver Medal to MBRLC during the 1991 World Food Day celebration "in recognition of the contribution to mobilizing people's participation in tree planting and sustainable forest resources management."

Its former director, Harold Ray Watson, was given the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award - touted to be the Nobel Prize of Asia - for "encouraging international utilization of Sloping Agricultural Land Technology created by him and co-workers to help the poorest of small tropical farmers."

Indeed, the MBRLC has gone a long, long way. Watson came to the Philippines in the 1960s but it was not until in 1971 that he launched the MBRLC, a research and demonstration farm. "When I got here, I had no idea what the problems were up in the hills," said the American who spent almost half of his life in the Philippines. "Farming looked pretty good on the surface."

Soon, Watson discovered that the problem was the surface: It was washing away. Loggers - both legal and illegal - were hauling trees out of the once-lush mountains, leaving behind denuded hillsides. Tribal people and migrants were using "slash and burn" methods (kaingin) to clear and farm the uplands, and topsoil was disappearing faster than what can be replenished. The result: low production, hunger, and hopelessness.

Working with a Filipino team, the MBRLC discovered a sustainable farming system that helps curtail soil erosion. It is known as Sloping Agricultural Land Technology (SALT). "The principle of SALT is the same as that used by the Ifugao tribes," explains Roy C. Alimoane, the current MBRLC director. "All we are doing is suggesting using nitrogen-fixing trees and shrubs instead of rocks."

The SALT system still requires careful management of the space between the rows of trees and shrubs. A combination of permanent, semi-permanent, and annual crops is recommended so as to rebuild the ecosystem and maximize yields while enabling farmers to organize their work time efficiently.

In the SALT farm, one finds a mix of permanent crops (cacao, coffee, banana and other fruit trees), cereals (upland rice, corn, or sorghum), and vegetables (bush sitao, winged beans, sweet pepper, tomato, eggplant, etc.). Every third strip of available land is normally devoted to permanent crops. A combination of various cereals and vegetables are planted on the remaining two strips of land. Each has its own specific area so that there can be a seasonal rotation.

"Crop rotation helps to preserve the regenerative properties of the soil and avoid the problems of infertility typical of traditional agricultural practices," Alimoane explains on the importance of regular rotation of crops.

The success of SALT has given birth to three more systems: Simple Agro-Livestock Livestock Technology (SALT 2), a system that integrates livestock raising into the system; Sustainable Agroforest Land Technology (SALT 3), a combination of food-wood production; and Small Agrofruit Livelihood Technology (Salt 4), where fruits and trees are planted together in the same area.

"All the Salt systems can help restore productivity to eroded lands," Alimoane points out. "They can also be employed in newly opened lands to prevent soil erosion."

Its study showed that a farm tilled in the traditional manner erodes at the rate of 1,163.4 metric tons per hectare per year. In a Salt farm, there is still erosion but minimal - 20.2 metric tons per hectare per year.

In the past, the hedgerow species MBRLC recommended was the multipurpose ipil-ipil (Leucaena leucocephala). But when ipil-ipil suffered by insect infestation, it now suggests using various nitrogen-fixing trees and shrubs like Indigofera anil, Flemingia macrophylla, and Desmodium rensonii.

The leaves of the aforementioned nitrogen-fixing trees and shrubs are also used as green manure in the basket composts of its Food Always In The Home (Faith) gardening. It is a simple but effective vegetable gardening technology.

"As its name suggests, the Faith garden produces a continuous and sufficient supply of fresh vegetables daily for a family with six members," Alimoane says, adding that it is not the final word in family gardening. "Our system is only an attempt to develop a home garden that can provide adequate food with minimum cost, labor, and land utilization," he explains.

MBRLC is also known as Davao del Sur's goat center. After all, it has been raising various types of goats since the 1970s. Of the goats, the center had tried and tested, it found Anglo Nubian as the most suitable type of goat to be raised in Mindanao and other parts of the country.

MBRLC sells pure-bred Anglo Nubians at P10,000 either male or female. That price is only for those breeders weighing 20 kilograms. If it is more than 20 kilograms, there is an additional cost of P1,000 per kilogram. Which means that if the goat weighs 25 kilograms, the total price is P15,000.

The recommended hedgerows are also good for goats as forage. The center tested several forages for goats and it has found three good forage for goats: indigofera, rensonii, and flemingia.

MBRLC sells seeds of the above forage crops at P350 per kilogram for indigofera and rensonii and P300 per kilogram for flemingia. "We can provide seeds to our buyers when these are available," Alimoane says. "So, they need to contact us first."

One of the center's practical ways of helping develop the countryside is through the training courses on simple farming technologies it has developed through the years. Aside from those mentioned earlier, MBRLC also offers courses on fruit tree production (durian, rambutan, lanzones, mangosteen, calamansi, etc.), asexual propagation of plants (fruits, bamboo, black pepper, etc.), and seed production (tomato, eggplant, ampalaya, beans, and cucumber, to name a few).

Courses on raising tilapia, chickens (layers), rabbits, and swine can also be undertaken. There are also courses on vermiculture (raising earthworms) and vermicomposting, feed formulation, and biogas construction.

To give closer supervision to individual trainees and to provide more time for "hands-on" training, only 25-35 participants are allowed in a class or group. "Normally, a course could be completed within one to two days," says Elsa N. Ablayon, the center's training head. "However, the whole training duration is very flexible as it depends upon the needs and interests of the participants."

Watson is now retired. He is back in his home place in Mississippi. But what he started continues to touch the lives of many farmers in the country and other Asian nations. "When a nation loses the capability to feed, clothe, and shelter itself," he once said, "it loses the capability to chart its own destiny."

Readers who are interested to know more about the MBRLC can send an email to mbrlc@mozcom.com. By phone, the center can be contacted through this number: 0918-372-2706.