Pacalioga and Provincial Agriculturist Marilyn Bersales led a group of municipal and barangay officials, San Miguel Corporation (SMC) personnel, livelihood coordinators and Pagadian-based journalists in the first harvest of a model cassava farm last August 21 in barangay Caridad, Dumingag.

The cassava farm showcased the hole method of cassava farming copied by Congressman Antonio Cerilles from Thailand and promoted in the entire province of Zamboanga del Sur.

The method requires the digging of one-square-meter and foot-deep holes to be filled with organic fertilizers on which cassava shoots or stalks are planted. Variations on the depth and size of the hole can be found in other towns of the province.

In another model cassava farm in barangay Lower Landing, Dumingag, the harvesting group plucked out a 15-kilo cassava tuber from a seven-month-old cassava plant.

“We therefore conclude that the Cerilles or hole method is much better than the plow method of cassava farming,” Bersales said. She pointed out that in the plow method the farmers can normally harvest from 5 to 7 kilos.

It is now clear that the farmers can earn more money from the Cerilles method, Bersales added.

Pacalioga’s Chief of Staff Butch Cabilan said that the 15-kilo of tuber will reduce to 8 kilos when dried into chips. SMC buys chips at P7 per kilo, to be converted into granules for feedstock.

SMC Provincial Area Coordinator Ben Brasales said the demand for cassava chips is still very high, as SMC still needs 400,000 metric tons more annually for its factories.

The annual cassava production in the Philippines is only around 100,000 metric tons although SMC factories have a capacity of 500,000 metric tons in order to produce feedstock and alcohol. Due to lack of supply at present, the Philippine cassava can only meet the requirements for the feedstock, Brasales said.

Pacalioga said that the advantage of the hole method is that the farmers can plant cassava monthly all year round, and so they can earn a monthly income starting from the first harvest.

He said that to make the method adoptable to ordinary farmer, it only requires him to till one-tenth of a hectare per month. A tenth of a hectare can accommodate 587 cassava hills, including the corns being intercropped in between.

Pacalioga advised cassava farmers in Dumingag to plant corns at the four corners of the square-meter hole, so that they can already reap the fruits of their labor while waiting for the harvest of the cassava on the tenth month.

Since the corn can be harvested within four months, the farmers can harvest corn twice before harvesting the cassava.

Last update: 29-08-2009 02:53