Finally, real farmers

FOR decades, they lived in the margins, unseen, unheard of. In fact, it was just in only in 2007 when the Matigsalugs were finally officially recognized as a distinct tribe of Davao City.

Through the years that the Matigsalugs lived in the margins, they survived with what little they knew of planting -- slash and burn, sow and then wait for the rice and corn to grow to harvestable stage.

As they planted over and over again without knowing any better, the soil was no longer allowed to regenerate. Harvest became smaller and smaller, the loosened soil too became more prone to landslides.

Many a time, both rice and corn yield less than they should; many a time, a whole farmland would be lost, crops and all, as soil tumbles down the slopes; many a time they had to survive on rootcrops and nothing else.

Their ancestors were forest gatherers who planted some staples to go with that they have gathered in the forests. They were not full-fledged farmers like many lowlanders. After all, the forests provided for everything they needed, including clear drinking water.

But then, the forests were taken away from them by massive logging operations in the 1960s to 1990s and left them with denuded lands and the little knowledge on planting rice and corn that involved putting seeds into the soil and waiting for these to grow.

In April last year, a 40-year-old farm technology was finally introduced to the upland sitios of barangay Marilog -- the sloping agricultural land technology 1 (Salt 1).

“It was difficult at first, especially when they were taught about farm planning,” Kinaiyahan Foundation Inc. (KFI) executive director Betty Cabazares said. “They couldn’t grasp the whole point of plotting out how the crops have to be arranged for better soil management.”

But, when what they have planned on paper was laid out on the land, those who have volunteered to be part of the project which had funds from Holcim Philippines had only one thing to say: “Sayon ra diay (It’s easy)!”

Salt for small farmers

Salt 1 was developed by the Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center in Bansalan, Davao del Sur in the 1970s and introduced to small farmers in the 1980s.

The technology not only addresses soil erosion, its design is also intended to restore fertility and soil structure and introduce an efficient food crop production that is easy to manage at small farm levels and removes dependence on chemical inputs.

With sloping land divided into bands and separated by nitrogen-fixing shrubs that can be used as firewood, the five-meter wide bands of the same slope levels are planted with both field and permanent crops.

Field crops are grains like corn and upland rice, sweet potatoes, gabi, and vegetables like okra, pechay, alugbati, and legumes. These are intercropped in such a way that symbiotic species are planted side by side to naturally repel destructive pests like pairing onions with pechay.

Permanent crops include fruit trees, coffee, and cacao.

A CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION

Last February 5, sitio Lapinig celebrated its foundation day but unlike any other foundation day in the past, the Matigsalugs in Lapinig were showing off the harvested vegetables and rootcrops from their “model farms”.

“Model”, the natives call their plots of land, and just one year later, the Matigsalugs already have a team of “teachers” who share the technology they learn to other residents.

There are now a total of 50 model farms in sitios Upian, Malikongkong, Guilon, and Lapinig, all in barangay Marilog, and just recently one model farm was established at sitio Contract and sitio Namnam, both in barangay Salumay.

Having seen how the model farms provide more resilient livelihood since there is something to harvest all year round, more and more residents in those hinterland barangays are volunteering to join, to learn, and to understand the importance of fertile soil in agriculture.

Sitio leader Conrado Guling was proud to show off the four booths they set up, representing the four groups of farmers who set up model farms in Lapinig. They’ve never had these displays during their fiestas before.

The farmfolks displayed not only the vegetables they harvested from the farms but also the food they gather from the forest like what they called the native ampalaya that looked more like small green tomatoes than an ampalaya, and which they described grew in plants that look like eggplants. They also had muti, a wild plant which grows on newly plowed land and eaten boiled, sautéed, or mixed into some soup just like leaves of ampalaya and chili pepper. They also displayed wild nuts called pangi and smoked field frogs. One booth had chives.

Excitement broke out among the residents as tarpaulin billboards featuring their photos on their model farms with their children were displayed on each booth.

But most of all, the womenfolk were excited to tell their visitors that now they are able to earn some to buy salt, vetsin, and other kitchen basics that for them was a luxury before they learned to care for the soil.

Reviving the past

On the eve of the foundation day, each group presented their old ways of farming starting from planting to harvesting, threshing, and winnowing of rice, and catching frogs with the use of a handheld lantern made of palm leaves and a burning ember wrapped in more palm leaves and used in the same way present-day farmers use flashlights at night to catch frogs.

“We are proud to recall how farming was before in the time of our ancestors,” Datu Roberto Pundo said in the vernacular as he presented each group one by one. “It’s just sad that we have allowed all these to be nearly forgotten.”

Datu Roberto said that recalling how their ancestors worked with the environment taught them how they should have been protecting the environment all these years because it is the forests that have been providing for their people.

“Our forests are our food markets and our pharmacies,” he said. “The medicines we needed are all in the forest, the fruits, nuts, vegetables, and meat are all there too, but we allowed the forests to be destroyed.”

Their people suffered for many years because of this.

But they are now re-learning the lessons they have been taught but have set aside and now vow to protect their ancestral lands to bring back the forests and abide by farming practices that nurture the soil like Salt farming.

One problem they still have to contend with these days, however, is rat infestation.

Their rice harvest was reduced to almost nothing in the last harvest season such that their fiesta celebration was a very frugal one, with not much rice to feed both visitors and residents and just one grown hog slaughtered for all to share.

They are hoping that one other sustainable farm technology against rat infestation will be introduced to them, and soon, before they have to dig deep into their seed for planting and later for cooking as well, and eventually lose the native varieties they have long kept as heirloom.

During the Araw ng Lapinig, the datus were hopeful. “Gangis” were happily chirping all around, and in the past, their ancestors saw this as portent of a good rice harvest. The reason for this, they can no longer remember. All that remained in their dim memories is that when crickets are chirping the next season’s rice harvest will be good.

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