Cavite farmers develop agroforestry system

Call it folk technology.

A project of Silang (Cavite) farmers, it has been named 1:4 Pooc Agroforestry, a multi-storey cropping system. The system explains its name: 1 stands for one hectare and 4 for the number of crops simultaneously grown.

The technology was adjudged the Most Outstanding Agroforestry Practice (first prize) in the poster presentation contest at the First National Agroforestry Congress held last Nov. 19-20 at the Leyte State University (LSU) in Baybay, Leyte.

Attended by professionals, practitioners, and institutions engaged in agroforestry in the country, the congress aimed to formulate strategies and plans for institutionalizing agroforestry development program locally.

Convinced that 1:4 Pooc Agroforestry is efficient and sustainable, the Los Baños-based Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau (DENR-ERDB) has been directly promoting it as an upland farming system.

It has progressed through the active involvement of farmers in Pooc 11 in Silang applying the "bayanihan" system, information sharing, and exchange of high-quality planting materials.

As documented by DENR-ERDB researchers headed by Dr. Aleli Luna, short-term and equally high-value crops are integrated in the farming system.

The most common combination is coffee + black pepper + papaya + banana, lanzones and mahogany and other variations.

Today, reported ERDB headed by Director Celso Diaz, 1: Pooc Agroforestry serves as a model for training, extension and a learning laboratory for stakeholders. – Rudy A. Fernandez