Sunday, July 22, 2007

Kawawang Magsasaka at Mangingisda (4)

While I am not a farmer, I am privileged to have connections to the farmers. For this, I am privy too to the fact that -- as in all sectors -- "salvation shall come to this house", if I may use a "Churchy" jargon (for who's not aware of the latest Vatican emphasis on the necessity of the (Catholic) Church as an element of salvation), through and by means of "internal cleansing."
Now, I am here to tell of one "distortion" that is very observable in the ranks of the farmers of Occidental Mindoro. This has been a handiwork of insistent government proddings, since the time of the Green Revolution during the KBL heyday, for the farmers to switch to "modernized farming technology" -- one of the characteristics of which is the use of chemical fertilizers.
It seems that the volume of fora, symposia, trainings, FGD's, and the like cannot cause the un-learning of the use of synthetic inputs in farming activities. It seems no appeal for ecological reasons and no amount of presentation of the "economics of hybrid farming technology" can effect farmers' paradigm shift on matters of farming technology to adapt.
It seems no amount of teaching them to do backyard production of organic fertilizer can be effective in bringing down the bulk of the use of chemical-based farm inputs in the ricefields of the province...
It seems the difference of P900.00/cavan of chemical fertilizer and the P200.00/cavan of organic fertilizer is not enough to do the persuasion.
For the farmers of Occidental Mindoro, the preference is on going to the market and bringing home the ever-available chemical fertilizer and other farm inputs than to exert extra effort to produce an ecologically-friendly farm implements.
Epekto ng pagbabagong teknolohikal? Malamang... Kasi dati naman, hindi ganito ang sistema ng pagsasaka.. At mas may pera ang mga magsasaka sa kanilang dating sistema.

2 comments:

anawim said...

ang aking ama ay magsasaka. at bata pa ako ay kinagisnan ko na ang ganitong sistema ng pagsasaka. noong makita ko ang ibang sistemang ginagamint ng 'masipag farming' nakita ko ang malaking kaibahan nito sa pagsasakang umaasa sa mga chemical fertilizers. at mapalad ako kasi nabigyan ako ng pagkakataon na makita ang ganitong sistema subalit iilan-ilan ang gumagamit nito.
guato ko sanang humingi ng pabor sa mga bumubuo ng masipag farming dian sa San Jose na magkaroon ng programa sa amin sa lubang.

DIDASKALOS said...

Lubang is known for "pastilyas" and "aros". Do you "grow" these using organic fertilizer?