Indigenous Peoples (IPs) of the Manobo-Matigsalug tribe in Sitio Maluan, Marilog District in Davao City are now into rubber-based farming system (RBFS). This was done through a BAR-funded project initiated by the Southern Mindanao Integrated Agricultural Research Center (SMIARC) of the Department of Agriculture (DA) through the Research Outreach Station (ROS) for Hilly Land Farming System, the Department of Agriculture Bureau of Agricultural Research said in statement.
Training for the IPs to sustain rubber planting. Under the project, an RBFS training for the IPs was conducted. Ms. Jessel Cardines, coordinator of BAR-funded projects in SMIARC, said that the IPs had a perception before that rubber will not thrive in Marilog. “They have that to-see-is-to-believe attitude, so we showed them first hand that rubber can really grow here in our area,” she said.
To showcase the different RBFS technologies, rubber planting was done on-station wherein rubber was intercropped with different fruits, vegetables and cereals. “These different RBFS designs address the long gestation period of rubber before it could give income to the growers,” Ms. Cardines explained. After seeing that the rubber trees were able to grow in three years, the IPs started to ask for rubber seedlings.
However, planting materials were not given to them immediately. Instead, the proponents thought of a way on how the IPs can sustain the growing of rubber trees on their own. Hence, the station organized and conducted a 7-month long season training on RBFS to 25 IPs which was funded by BAR. The IPs had actual hands-on experience on nursery operation that included seedbed preparation, budding, and seedlings maintenance. The training also taught them on field operation wherein they learned about land preparation, contouring, planting, fertilizer application, pruning, and branch induction.
After being exposed to three budding sessions, the IPs were given the budded seedlings which they were able to maintain alive during the sessions. Fertilizers were given by SMIARC, while vegetable seeds and other fruit trees for intercropping came from ROS. Before the graduation, they were required to have at least half a hectare of RBFS for project sustainability. Due to the promising outcomes of the first batch, it was followed by a second batch of training through the HVCDP and a refresher course with the Agricultural Training Institute.
With their newly-acquired skills and being the first to know about budding in the area, the training graduates were hired by private investors in Marilog and Arakan to bud their seedlings, thus providing them additional income. Ms. Diosa Ansudo, one of the IP graduates, is now reaping the benefits of adopting the technology that she learned from the training. “Nagpapasalamat po ako sa DA dahil malaki po ang naitulong nito sa akin at sa aking pamilya. Dahil sa training nila, natuto ako mag-bud ng rubber [I am thankful to DA because they helped me and my family a lot. Because of their training, I learned about rubber budding]”, she said.
At present, Diosa maintains around 500 rubber trees with different fruits and vegetables as intercrops. She delivers her produce from intercrops in the town market. From her earnings, she was able to buy school supplies for her children and provide food for her family. With the benefits of the rubber training, she is also encouraging the women in their community to go into RBFS through a women’s group that she is starting to organize.
“Through this rubber project, many IPs and private investors have shown interest to plant and grow rubber. Roughly 124 hectares of land is estimated to be planted with rubber outside of the station,” said ROS Chief Prospero Tanutan. In an effort to show these notable accomplishments to other farmers in the region, farmers’ field days are planned to be conducted this year in Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Davao City, and Compostela Valley.
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