Natural Farming Models

                    Natural Farming Models

Dr Abe V Rotor

Farm Life in acrylic by AVRotor

The other name of natural farming is organic farming. In the United States and Europe, the trend now is for people to reach for organically grown food. In malls and large groceries, we find rice labeled "organically grown."

Mere substitution of fertilizer from chemical to organic is not enough. The organic fertilizer must be free from pathogens, toxic waste and metals.

The crops and animals must not be products of genetic engineering, meaning they should come from natural gene pools.

Natural farming also requires the absence of chemical spraying. If it cannot be avoided, the spray must be biodegradable, using botanical derivatives like derris, neem and chrysanthemum.

Here are scenarios of natural farming in the country.

1. Payatak method (Samar) - This is a local version of zero tillage. No plowing, no harrowing is done. A herd of carabaos trample over the soil until it turns into puddle, then the one-month old rice seedlings are transplanted. There are no sprays or fertilizers. This is natural farming in the marginal sense, a carryover of age-old tradition.

2. Mixed orchard (Zambales) – This is a stand of several kinds of trees, where orchard, firewood trees and forest trees grow together. These trees follow a natural pattern of arrangement. They have no common pest and need soil fertility differentially. The trees have their own niche and grow into layers resembling storeys. Management is simple and practical.

3. Multiple cropping model (Sta. Maria. Bulacan) - The farmer engages in the production of three commodities. A two-hectare farm may produce fruits, vegetables and rice, plus several heads of carabao and cattle. A pond supplies irrigation and produces tilapia and hito.

Why three commodities? It is because these commodities are closely integrated. First, the animals produce, other than meat and milk, manure for the plants. The plants produce food for the family and market. Plant residues are made into animal feeds and compost. The pond is source of irrigation. It is a waterhole for wildlife conservation, too. Because of its integrated structure and management the farm becomes a balanced system. This is the key to sustainable agriculture, otherwise known as ecological farming.

4. Sloping agricultural land technology or (SALT in Bohol). Call this natural farming even if the farm is a logged over area. The idea is for the farmer to revert the land to its natural state as much as possible. How does he do it? If one sees the model, the land has a slope of around 20 degrees. The steeper the grade the more difficult it is to apply the system. It does not work for slopes above 30 degrees.

In SALT, the contour of the slope is marked and outlined. The contours are spaced uniformly, and the rows that follow the contour are planted at intervals with annual and permanent crops. The idea is for the permanent crops (like fruit trees and firewood trees) to be sandwiched with annual crops (like peanut, rice, corn, and vegetable). The ipil-ipil herbage is used as organic fertilizer. The Neem tree is used for pesticide, while Lantana (L. camara) is a natural pest repellant, so with Eucalyptus. Legume intercropping and crop rotation replenish the soil of Nitrogen and other elements.

5. Modified models (rice and corn areas). Rice farming can be modified to suit the conditions of natural farming. There are farms today that rely entirely on homemade or commercial organic fertilizers. An equally important aspect of successful farming is cleanliness. This means effective weed removal, trimmed waterways, properly disposed of farm wastes, efficient drainage, well arranged rows, and properly scheduled farming activities. All these activities require low technologies that are also affordable. Together they contribute to good health for both the producer and consumer - and the environment.

As more people go for organically-grown food, agriculture becomes more environment-friendly, which is the essence of ecological farming.~

Go for Fresh, Natural, and Locally Produced Food

Dr Abe V Rotor

Typical fruit stand, UP Diliman QC

It is not enough that we produce food. We must produce food that ensure good health, reduce risks to diseases and ailments, and prolong life. We must produce food that also insures the health of our environment and the stability of the ecological system.

While science and technology continue to explore new ways to increase food supply with genetic engineering, people are yearning for organic food – or naturally grown food.

Here are issues raised by the proponents of organic farming.

1. Many ailments and abnormalities are traced to the food we take. Cancer for instance, is often related to carcinogenic substances. High uric acid leads to kidney trouble. High cholesterol and high sugar levels are associated with high blood pressure and diabetes. Aftatoxin causes cirrhosis of the liver. Ulcers are food-related, so with many allergies.

2. Proper nutrition and balanced diet can be attained by eating the right kind and amount of natural food without fortification with vitamins and minerals, and other forms of altering food value. Thus there is no need to process food unless it is really necessary. Fresh foods – vegetables, fish, and the like – are still the best. And why modify the genetic composition of crops and animals? Leave that to nature. Nature knows best.

3. Taking excess foods rich in animal fat and protein, and foods high in calories foods has predisposed many people to overweight conditions. Gaining unnecessary weight leads obesity now an epidemic sweeping many countries today particularly in cities where there is a proliferation of fast foods and junk foods. Or simply there is too much of the “good life” – excess in food and pleasure. In the US today one out of five Americans is an obese, two are overweight.

4. There are natural substances that keep our body always alert to fend off stress due to overwork and diseases. They are known as probiotics. We get probiotics from fruits and vegetables. We also get them from seaweeds, mushrooms, yoghurt, algae such as Chlorella, and Cyanobacteria such as Spirulina. And there are many more sources that occur in nature. We are beginning to realize that eating foods rich in probiotics and antibiotics (substances that directly kill germs) makes us healthier and live longer.

These are the rules set by the advocates of organic farming.

1. It is always better to eat foods grown under natural conditions than those developed with the use of chemicals.
This statement can be captured with one term "natural food". All over the world this is a label found in food grown without chemicals. People are afraid of becoming ill because of chemicals introduced into the food. There are banned pesticides still in used such as methyl parathion, endosulfan, DDT, BHC, among others. These are also harmful to all living organisms and to the environment.

2. People are avoiding harmful residues of antibiotics and pesticides.
Poultry, hogs and cattle are given high levels of antibiotics to safeguard the animals from diseases. As a result, the antibiotics are passed on to the consumers. Unless we are ill, the body does not need supplemental antibiotics. We have adequate natural sources. Every time we eat commercial eggs, chicken, pork chop, steak, and the like, we are taking in antibiotics which accumulate in our body, shutting off our immune systems, punishing our kidney and liver. To many people, antibiotics cause allergic reactions.

3. People are getting scared of food contaminated by radiation. Nuclear reactors are being built in many countries as a fallback to fossil fuel.
With the recent nuclear plant meltdown in Fukoshima, Japan, the Chernobyl nuclear incident in Russia, and that of the Three-Miles Island nuclear plant in the US, people have become wary about the consequences of fallout. A trace of radiation can be absorbed by grass in the pasture, finds its way to milk, then to infants. Radiation can remain active for hundreds of years. People are still dying today in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, more than sixty years since the bombing of the two cities with the first atomic bomb.

4. People are becoming aware of the deleterious effects of toxic metals, such as lead, mercury and cadmium.
These find their way through the food chain and ultimately reach humans. They escape to the air and enter our lungs, as in the case of dusts from old paints. Since they are in soluble compounds, they are easily absorbed by plants and animals. Kangkong (Ipomea reptans) for example absorbs lead. Tuna has high mercury in its tissues and liver. Cadmium from batteries is absorbed by crops.

5. People are becoming more conscious of the nutritional value of food rather than its packaging and presentation.
More and more people are shunning away from junk foods, in spite of their attractive packaging. Soft drinks have taken the backseat, courtesy of fruit juices and mineral water. People have even learned that different plant varieties have different levels of food value. Beans grown on naturally fertile soil have higher calorie and protein content than those grown on poor soil, or with chemical fertilizers. This is also true with animals. Animals raised with proper nutrition give meat, milk and eggs with higher protein, minerals notwithstanding.

6. Freshness is the primordial rule in choosing a perishable food.
There is no substitute to freshness. While freshness is a function of efficient handling and marketing, the farmer must enhance farm-to-market freshness. By keeping his standing plants healthy, his produce will stay longer on the shelf life. Products that are free from pest and diseases also stay fresher and longer. Too much water or fertilizer reduces shelf life of the commodity.

7. Food processing must be efficient and safe.
Food processing, such as drying, milling and manufacturing is key to higher profits. Whenever feasible, food must reach the table fresh. But processing is designed to extend the shelf life of perishable commodities. There are products that require processing before they are used. These food items include vanilla, coffee, cacao, wine and vinegar, soya, fish sauce and the like. Profits generated through processing are value-added to production.

8. Food must be free from pest and diseases.
By all means, food must be free from insects and pathogens. There are cases of food poisoning as a result of food deterioration, or contamination. Take salmonella and E. coli. Khapra beetle in grains may even cause death to animals. Weevils hasten the deterioration of the food.

9. Food preservation must ensure quality, and above all, safety.
Be aware of the fish that is stiff, yet looks fresh. It is easy to detect the odor of formalin. Salitre is harmful, so with vetsin or MSG (Monosodium glutamate). Too much salt (sodium) is not good to the body. Some puto makers add lye or sodium hydroxide to aid coagulation of the starch. We wary of sampaloc candies enticingly made red with shoe dye. The same diluted dye is used with ube manufacture to make it look like the real violet-colored tuber.

10. Beware of GMOs.
Many countries warn of the potential dangers of genetically modified food and food products, popularly called Frankenfood, after the novel Frankenstein, a mad scientist who created a monster. This move is not only to safeguard health, but also the environment. Genetically modified plants and animals – as well as bacteria, protists and even viruses – are now a threat to the natural gene pool, giving rise to a new kind of pollution - genetic pollution. Once a gene pool of a certain species is contaminated with a GMO genetic material, the genic pollutant cannot be eliminated, even in subsequent generations. Thus, it also disturbs natural evolution.

Next time you go to market, remember these guidelines. Why not convert that idle lot to raise food that is safe to your health and the environment? That little corner could be the start of a new green revolution. x x x

Poisonous plants – beware!

Dr Abe V Rotor
Pulp of the fruits of Cabo Negro is extreme itchy.
In early times, the pulp was used to defend forts from
invaders by pouring into the moat crushed fresh
fruits. When harvesting, the fruits are first boiled before
extracting the edible part popularly known as kaong.

There are hundreds – probably thousands - of plants that are injurious to health of humans and animals. The most classical is hemlock, the poison that killed the great Greek philosopher, Socrates. We do not have hemlock in the Philippines but there are species that are as poisonous. Here is a list of the most common poisonous plants found in gardens, parks, fields, and even wastelands.

• Tubang bakod (Jatropha curcas) – the seeds look and taste like peanut. They are extremely poisonous. It causes drastic diarrhea.

• Castor bean or tangan-tangan (Ricinus communis) – Seeds contain one of the most poisonous substances in nature – ricinin. This is the reason castor oil purgative is no longer recommended. Purified ricinin is reportedly used in the manufacture of lethal weapons.

• Priwinkle or chichirica (Catharanthus roseus) – While it is refuted for its curative power for cancer and diabetes, it causes abortion, and reportedly the cause of death of grazing cattle.

• Oleander or Adelfa (Nerium oleander) – The bark and leaves are poisonous. The poison consists of glucosides allied to digitalin sometimes referred to as oleandrin, rosaginin, neriin, oleander-digitalein, which act on the heart and even in quite small amounts may cause death. There are cases children choke after putting into their mouth the stem or any part of the plant. The poison causes muscle paralysis.

• Kamagsa-tagalis (Rourea erecta), also known as palo santo (Spanish) or gikos-gikos – The wood of the root is pounded, boiled, and mixed with the food of dogs in order to kill them. The fruit contain an active poison, a glucoside. It cannot be explained why the poison does not affect herbivores like guinea pig, but is effective on carnivores.

• Derris (Derris eliptica) – The roots contain an active principle known as rotenone, with a formula C23H22O6, a potent insecticide, which also kills fish and animals, including grazing cattle. According to Dr. W.H. Brown, Derris roots have been long associated with suicidal and murder cases.

• Cassava (Manihot esculenta) – Hydrocyanic acid resides in the bark of the tuber or enlarged root, so that it is important to remove the bark before cooking. And when cooking, remove the pot cover to allow the poison to escape as cyanogas.

• Lima Bean or patani (Phaseolus lunatus) – When I was a farmhand I witnessed a case of goat poisoning after the stray animal had ingested leaves of this legume whose seed is rich in carbohydrate and protein. The belly was greatly distended, and while the animal was agonizing, the owner had it slaughtered. In my research I did not encounter any poisonous substance in Phaseolus. Could it be a case of overeating or allergic reaction?

Can you recall the ending of the movie, Blue Lagoon, after the couple and their son had eaten some kind of poisonous berries? Here is the then rule when you are not sure of the plant - or anything that appeals to you as food. Do not eat it. This is especially true with mushrooms. There is no antidote of poisonous Amanita.

x x x

Living with Folk Wisdom, AVR, UST Manila

Thailand Tidbits in Verses

Mural on the Wall

Mural, mural on the wall
Tell me who's the fairest of them all,
The grandest, the most powerful -
The wall is mute, its message full
Of wealth, power before the Fall,
Sans the secrets of its soul.~

Tourists

Tourists like you all, I know,
for the art of Janus in two,
viewing the past with awe,
and looking into tomorrow,
taking photos of memento
through a smudged window,
or on a roaring avenue,
then bidding a sad adieu.~

Chao Phraya River

The river is deep; its source is long;
Its shoulders broad, the sea is far.
Keeper of legends and ancestry;
It washes tears, reflects the stars;
Chronicler of culture and history.

Tourists Center

Incessant is life with joy and flair,
Under the sun, in the night’s air,
Like bees humming, fish circling,
Birds arriving, leaving.

Hotel Room

Simplicity is the rule and reference;
Colors melt in cream and gray pallor,
Ceiling meets floor, window and door,
Only the guests make the difference.
Dr. Abe V Rotor

Busy Lane

Busy feet and hands, mind and heart at race
On the fast lane, sidewalks blocked;
Where is order, dignity and grace?
Life never dims, stars just hang out.

Floating Market

Boat songs here are not of romance and gay,
But songs of bounty in the land of the free,
Floating down the meandering river to the city
Where the heart of trade throbs, throbs all day.

Macopa Hybrid

I know you on the backyard where I grew up;
A big tree laden with fruits and children,
I among them all day laughing, swinging
From branch to branch in pure joy and delight,
Never reaching our fill, unheeding old folks.

Now your fruits are bigger, perhaps sweeter,
In bright red skin to sad purple green,
Hanging on frail branches touching the ground,
When you were a living cradle with strong limb;
How frail indeed is man's ultimate aim. ~

Harp Bridge

I wish I were Gulliver to make you into a harp;
Together we make the most beautiful music;
Away from the maddening crowd, or the world asleep;
And we shall rise to the spirit of an art,
And span across the valley where life's not brief.~

Sea Bass in a Restaurant Aquarium

How sad their faces are though seemingly at ease;
I tapped the glass, they stared at me a friend;
With a camera I sealed their fate forever in peace,
Alive in memory but failed to save them.~

Ruin of Babel

Have I not before climbed this wall?
And the doves cooed.
Where have my friends gone after the Fall?
And the doves cooed.
Have I been reborn after all?
And the doves cooed.~

Icarus

On a jet plane I'm Icarus,
fallen god - Homo sapiens.~

How refine salt is made the old way.

Dr Abe V Rotor
Nagtupakan and San Sebastian are two villages (barangay) of San Vicente (Ilocos Sur) famous in making refined salt – salt as fine and white as refined sugar, you can mistake the two. This is how the native folks do it with a very old technology.

First the salt field is “irrigated” during the day by high tide coming directly from the sea, but instead of being drained in the succeeding low tide, the floodgate is closed trapping the seawater which leaves a crust of salt on the salt field. This is repeated to enrich the harvest.

The salt crust is “cultivated” by hand or with bullock using a light harrow to scrape the topsoil which contains the salt crust called ati’ . The gathered ati’ is piled on the field or stored in a nearby shack for future use, thus allowing salt making even during the rainy season.

This is the process proper of extracting the salt from the crust. The crust is placed in a trough made of long wooden planks which looks like an oversized coffin. The bottom is lined with a layer of rice hay and a layer of sand on top of it. This serves as filter. Seawater is poured into the trough containing the crust to dissolve the salt. The solution is filtered leaving behind the silt and clay. The filtrate which is a high concentrated salt solution is collected at one end of the trough. This is called inna, from which was derived the terms ag-inna, referring to the process.

The inna or filtrate is “cooked” in the open in large iron kettle under low fire. More filtrate is added as it evaporates to increase the yield. The salt is turned regularly to prevent the formation of crust at the bottom and to hasten cooking. Just like in the final stage in cooking rice, the in salt yield is allowed to dry completely.

The salt product is placed in a large bamboo basket for tempering, allowing the salt to become mellow (like wine). During this stage the salt attains its true fine texture, whiteness, and dryness.

Salt making with this indigenous technology is now a dying industry. Ironically it is in the endangered stage of a craft that earns its place in the list of tourists’ attractions. There are reasons why the industry is dying and these are as follows.

• High cost of production
• Dwindling supply of firewood
• The younger generation would rather go other jobs, or pursue careers
• Product competition – commercial salt, local and imported, has flooded the market.
• Advanced technology such as solar desalination of seawater has replaced traditional processes.
• Water pollution has rendered many salt fields unsuitable for this industry.
• Comparative profitability of other industries like prawn farming, seaweed farming and fish cage culture have replaced the industry.

If you happen to go up north, visit the indigenous salt making villages, seven km west of Vigan, and test for yourself which is salt and which is sugar just by looking at these two similar products in all their fineness and whiteness. ~

Whale

Miniature Replica of Blue Whale; and skull of Right Whale, Museum of Natural History, UPLB, Laguna

By Dr Abe V Rotor

Gulliver's story is right
where bigness is might,
trampling the small,
or devouring them all;
yet succumbs to want
or gnawed by ant.

Lo! The dinosaur's fate
outside Heaven's gate,
was doomed to oblivion,
and never left any scion,
except the lowly chicken,
the Archeopteryx risen.

Bless you dear whale
survivor of the comet's gale,
born after its fiery tail,
champion of Darwin's tale,
from land to sea you turned
and never returned.

And in the endless sea
where you are free,
you are king by size,
but also a harpoon's prize.

Will your fate be the same
as the dinosaur's fame?

x x x

Re-creating Lost Eden - On-the-spot Painting

Dr Abe V Rotor

La Union Botanical Garden in acrylic by AVR.
Courtesy of Dr Romualdo M del Rosario, Project Director

Go to where Nature's at her best,
where trees talk and birds sing
chirping as they build their nest,
the brook below whispering.

Sit on a ledge for clearer view,
armed with keen eye and brush,
to capture each color and hue,
to still the world on rush.

For you to regain the Eden lost
among mindless throng and horde;
bear the sun and rain for your Host
watching you with the world. ~