Conclusion
THE Integrated Rice-Ducks Farming (IRDF) system “suppresses the total amount of CH4 (methane) and N2O (nitrous oxide) emissions from rice paddies…Moreover, because the decrease of CH4 emissions from rice-ducks compared to traditional rice farming was far more than the increase of N2O emissions from rice-ducks compared to traditional rice farming, rice-ducks farming greatly reduced integrated GWPs (CH4 + N2O) compared to traditional rice farming. So, the rice–duck cultivation system is an effective strategy for reducing integrated GWPs of the rice–duck cultivation systems based on CH4 and N2O in southern China and will contribute to alleviating global warming,” Chinese scientists said.
In the Philippines, however, Filipino scientists have yet to measure the amount of methane emitted in the irrigated rice paddies. Parfund, in partnership with the Caraga State Univeristy (CSU) of Agusan del Norte, is undergoing small steps in this field of research.
Ducks also effectively eliminate farmers’ fear of contracting schistosomiasis because ducks, with their voracious appetite, eat everything that moves in the rice paddies but not the rice, said Catarata.
“We have implemented rice-duck farming in our city because we found out that the system helps in protecting the environment because it eliminates the use of all chemicals [pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers] in the rice fields,” he said in an interview after the meeting of the Economic Development Committee (ECD) of the Regional Development Council-X (RDC-10) in Cagayan de Oro City recently.
Organic rice is being promoted by the Valencia City local government unit LGU as its One-Town-One Product (Otop), Catarata said.
“We are promoting organic rice as our Otop because we always hear the complaints of our constituents that most of the sickness and diseases come from our food. So to eliminate this, we have embarked on organic farming,” he added.
Valencia City has at least 8,000 hectares of irrigated rice paddies and 2,000 hectares of rain-fed rice paddies, said Catarata’s aide Marven Selecios.
Catarata also said that the system gives rice farmers many sources of income aside from the sale of rice such as sale from ducks (live and meat), duck eggs, balut, salted egg and even chicks.
Aside from these, the system guarantees that future generations can still use the rice paddies for their livelihood since it ensures the integrity of the rice paddies, Cerilles said. “This is our hope to improve our lives,” he said.
With farmers now having different sources of income from their ricefields—from the sale of palay (unmilled rice), rice, ducks (live ducks, meat and eggs), balut, and others—farmers are empowered to better their present status and future of their children and grandchildren.
According to Cerilles, empowered citizens are the best partners of local chief executives in ensuring sustainable development in a locality.
“We have to empower our people, especially the farmers because they are the ones who feed us. An empowered people are our best partners in governance, in ensuring that our programs and projects are for the common good,” he said.
The IRDF system is now being implemented in at least 10 municipalities in Zamboanga del Sur, with the support of the Gov. Cerilles and his wife Rep. Aurora “Auring” Cerilles, through the Provincial Agriculture Office (PAO), making the province the largest provincial LGU to implement IRFDS.
In Valencia City, Catarata has pledged to convert at least 100 hectares to the system within his first 100 days in office.
Aside from Catarata, Mayor Pacalioga of Dumingag, Zamboanga del Sur has also pledged 100 hectares, 30 hectares of which are now in its first cropping season using the IRDF system.
Dumingag is a third-class land-locked municipality composed of 44 barangays, 90 percent of whose residents (46,039 individuals or 8,017 households) rely solely on farming for their livelihood because the town has no industry such as mining or logging. The town’s economy is purely agriculture-driven.
But because of the use of chemicals in producing rice, rice paddies in Dumingag are no longer fertile that farmers have to spend more on chemical inputs to have a bountiful harvest of rice, the sale of which are not even enough to pay off their debts incurred in getting the needed farm inputs. Adding to the burden of the farmers is the prevalent system that forever ties them to the compradors (traders).
“If that system continues, farmers’ livelihood will continue to deteriorate,” he said in an interview over a sumptuous meal after the “Farm Visitation” in Dumingag town recently.
To help their people become empowered, Cerilles, Catarata, Pacalioga and Billanes have embarked on organic agricultural governance or sustainable agriculture.
“Sustainable agriculture is the solution that would free farmers from annual bondage of slavery from capitalist traders,” Pacalioga said.
Using sustainable agriculture as their centerpiece program, however, was not easy, especially for Pacalioga, because of the resistance of farmers who were already ensconced in the kind of easy life chemical-based inorganic farming seemed to give. “When we started, it was really difficult for farmers because it was easy for them to continue inorganic farming because they only have to buy chemicals. There were also those who spread negative stories about organic farming,” he said.
But later, farmers saw the fruit of Pacalioga’s persistence and advocacy that they have realized that they have been enslaved by chemicals that they can no longer produce rice without it.
“Our people here have now realized that our land have been so degraded because of the years of practicing inorganic farming and using chemicals. They have realized the need to rehabilitate our farm lands so that future generations of farmers will still be able to produce food for our people,” he said.
In the neighboring municipality of Molave in Zamboanga del Sur, located some 30 minutes away from this city by car, Mayor Ireneo Glepa said that adopting the IRDF System was “a gamble at first because we have not yet experienced what other farmers have experienced using the system.”
However, Glepa believed Parfund and implemented the system in his town and, like the other local chief executives already mentioned, made the IRDF system his administration’s centerpiece program for farmers.
In Photo: Ducks are integrated into the rice paddies to serve as weeders, pest control and fertilizer. (Bong D. Fabe)
