This is the simple logic of Robert “Toto” Biadog, 37 in applying the gahung-gahung (hole) method of farming in the farm he tilled at Lower Timonan.

Toto thought that if the gahung-gahung method works with cassava, and cassava like any other plant grows better in fertile soil provided by the method, then the method also works with any other plant.

Gahung-Gahung Method

He first learned the gahung-gahung method when Mayor Jun Pacalioga gave a directive to all CVO’s to dig a few holes as their contribution to the model gahung-gahung farm in every barangay.

The method is also called the Cerilles-method of cassava farming, in honor of its chief promoter Congressman Tony Cerilles, the gubernatorial bet for Zamboanga del Sur under the banner of National People’s Coalition in the coming 2010 elections.

Assured by Mayor Jun of the high income potential of the new method, Toto easily agreed when his brother-in-law Gerry Albite, 62 asked him months later to apply the method in the latter’s farm in Lower Timonan.

A year after Mayor Jun’s directive, the cassava harvests from the gahung-gahung method in Dumingag weighed as much as more than 20 kilos. The usual harvest from the plow method is only around 3 kilos.

But Toto did not only apply the gahung-gahung method with cassava. He surmised that if it works with cassava, it must also work well with any other plant. The key of the growth he thought are the nutrients that the fertile soil provides.

The simple procedure of the method is the digging of a hole, then filling it with organic fertilizers, before planting anything on it.

In the almost four-hectare farm of his brother-in-law, Toto applied gahung-gahung on the half upland part of it. The other half lowland part is tilled by another worker hired by Gerry.

Organic Farm

On the upland part, Toto applied organic farming characterized by gahung-gahung method, intercropping and zero-use of chemicals. On it he planted corn, rubber, cassava, monggo, coconut, taro, and banana.

Toto just filled the holes with rice straw plus a little topsoil. For his coconut trees, he put in two man loads of rice straw, but for the rest of his crops, he only put in one load of rice straw. After filling in the holes with rice straw, he let the straw to decompose first for a month before planting on it.

Seven months after he started applying gahung-gahung, Toto could already show a model banana plant which is almost three times his height, around 20 feet, and already has three offshoots.

In a nearby farm in which gahung-gahung has not been applied, the banana which had been planted a week ahead of his model banana is only around five feet.

The same condition happens to the rest of Toto’s crops. All the corn, rubber, cassava, coconut and taro that he planted have grown well.

Toto said that there is a world of difference if he has to compare his crops today and the crops he planted on the same farm last year during which he did not yet apply the gahung-gahung.

“I only planted corns here before, but their growth stunted due to the infertile soil. With gahung-gahung filled with organic fertilizers, my crops now are all healthy,”

He said that had he filled in the holes with more organic fertilizers, like those taught in the trainings conducted by the LGU organic farming committee (OFC), his plants could have been healthier and his harvest would have been a lot bigger.

Next Steps

Toto intends to learn how to process different kinds of organic fertilizers later.

The OFC led by Jesus Semine regularly conducts trainings on how to make organic fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides in different barangays as part of the LGU campaign to install an organic farming system in the entire municipality.

Meanwhile, Gerry also now intends to apply organic farming for the next cropping of his rice farm in the other half lowland portion.

After seeing the advantage of organic farming in his upland farm, he is now ready to apply in his rice farm the organic farming system promoted by the OFC.

In his present rice farm in which he allowed the use of chemicals, he had to shell out a substantial amount for the high agricultural inputs. To save money as well as to promote healthy foods, Gerry said that he would tell his farm workers to learn, for the next cropping of his rice farm, the organic farming system and apply it religiously.

Last update: 07-12-2009 15:28