Residents back Basilan 'hydrophonic' agri venture

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Residents of Basilan assured Saturday to support their provincial government’s “hydrophonic” farming venture meant to boost agricultural productivity in the island province.

Basilan Gov. Jim Salliman said he appreciates their gesture, for him essential to his effort of hyping the productivity of constituents via hydrophonic farming technology, which is adaptable in their province.

Salliman was reelected to a third and last term during the May 9 local elections.

Mayors in the province told reporters Saturday they will support their provincial government’s hydrophonic vegetable farming project.

“Once we learn from the experiment, we can also do it in our respective turfs,” the now outgoing Lamitan City Vice Mayor Roderick Furigay said.

Furigay, who won in last month’s mayoral race in Lamitan City, is also an advocate of modern farming techniques.

He said he shall encourage all barangay officials in Lamitan City to study the hydrophonic vegetable farming program of the Salliman administration for possible replication in their villages.

Salliman’s office had set up in late 2020 two multi-million drip-irrigated greenhouses, one in Isabela City and another in Maluso town, as showcases for propagation of short-term crops.

Vegetable production was not a traditional source of income among Basilan residents until the provincial government built greenhouses from where farmers learned the craft and realized its profitability.

“Me and members of my family want to try this hydrophonic gardening in our yard,” Esteban Lazaro, a resident of Isabela City in Basilan, said.

The Salliman administration has, in recent months, been experimenting on hydrophonic vegetable propagation that it wants local farmers to replicate in the municipalities as organized groups.

In hydrophonic farming, vegetables are grown in pots filled with water instead of soil, which is viable in residential yards or anywhere in populated areas and in beaches in the island province.

“As an advocate of hydrophonic farming, I will support this hydrophonic agricultural program in Basilan too,” Agriculture blogger Marvin Baeza, who visited the province recently, said.

The Basilan provincial government is encouraging residents in seaside villages with sandy grounds not suitable for propagation of vegetables to try the water-based hydrophonic farming technique.

The retired commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, Lt. Gen. Juvymax Uy, who had served as brigade commander in Basilan while still a colonel, said hydrophonic gardening can be an income-generating project for some 300 former Abu Sayyaf members now thriving peacefully in different Basilan towns.

“Since there is a good relationship between Gov. Salliman and the Bangsamoro government, I am pretty confident that Bangsamoro agriculture officials will support this hydrophonic farming program in Basilan,” Uy said.