Diego Delfin, or Nong Diego, 64, is a farmer in the village of New Pangasinan, Isulan, Sultan Kudarat Province, Philippines. Nong Diego has been farming for 50 years, and for 15 of those years he has been practising integrated farming.
With the help of his daughter, he manages their two-hectare farm: they use 75 percent of their land for raising livestock and poultry, for fishery, and for growing fruit trees and vegetables. They use the other 25 percent for planting organic rice.
In 2007, he joined a season-long training on participatory plant breeding (PPB) sponsored by SEARICE and its partner organizations, hoping to learn even just a fraction of what college graduates would in four years.
And learn he did, as he continued to painstakingly conduct experiments on seeds that would bear the best qualities that a farmer aspires for. He bred a farmer’s variety, M3, with a traditional variety, B3. Both were resistant to pests and were high-yielding with the latter having the added trait of being aromatic. His handiwork produced the M3B3 which was adapted by a group of farmers from different villages in Calasiao, Pangasinan, a province in Northern Philippines.
We find out from him how the M3B3 reached Pangasinan. In 2009, when the line was finally stable, he gave some seeds to CONSERVE or the Community-based Native Seeds Research Center to be shared with other farmers. CONSERVE serves as a repository of traditional and farmer developed plant genetic resources (PGRs), or seeds. It collects and distributes to farmers different seed varieties that may be worth trying in their fields.
The M3B3 was tested by farmers who were also students of the Farmer Field Schools (FFS) in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and plant breeding. These farmers organized themselves into the Aliguas Dumaralos en Buenlag (ADB) or Progressive Farmers of Buenlag.
In 2011, they convinced several makers of a native rice cake famously known as Puto Calasiao, to try using the M3B3 as the main ingredient for the delicacy. The result was a better Puto Calasiao as the farmer-bred variety bore consistency, texture, and taste ideal for the product that is the main propeller of the town’s economy. This outcome validated the fact that farmers can perform breeding activities and it strengthened their resolve to develop more varieties that are most appropriate and responsive to their needs. The variety which was initially referred to as ADB rice is now called the Calasiao rice, having been recognized by the municipal government as a farmers’ variety. It is the farmers’ wish that the province would make the name official.
Nong Diego is a longstanding advocate of organic and diversified farming, although he is only one of a few farmers in his community that practise this system. He makes his farm diverse by growing fruits like Guyabano, Lanzones, Rambutan and by planting vegetables all-year-round (Eggplant, Bottle Gourd, Water Spinach, Lady Finger, Tomatoes, Squash, Beans and root crops like Taro). Instead of buying vegetable seeds, he uses his saved ones. Instead of applying chemical fertilizer, he applies his organic vermicast to his farm. His vegetable produce has been their family’s year-round source of nutritious food.
He also raises his livestock organically; his poultry (chicken) are free-ranged and fed with rice bran, a farm by-product. He uses rice bran as an alternative feed to commercial feedstuff, and he adds salt in water as an alternative electrolyte for his poultry especially in chicken.
Aside from poultry, he raises some goats. Every morning, he cuts and carries forage, specifically napier, grass to the chicken cages. Then, he lays shrubs or rice straw underneath the cages to catch the chicken waste, collects the latter and puts it in his vermicompost to let it degrade into an organic fertilizer. With this practice, he recycles the chicken waste, converting it into a more useful farm resource.
Nong Diego is now focused on improving his 200-square-meter ponds of Catfish and Tilapia. He feeds both fish with rice bran. His Tilapia pond can hold 5000 fingerlings, while his Catfish pond accommodates 1000 fingerlings. Nong Diego does not sell his Tilapia and Catfish, reserving it only for his family’s consumption and for breeding purposes. He wants to learn techniques in breeding Catfish, to save on the cost of buying expensive fingerlings every season, usually every 4 months.
Nong Diego has observed that his farm has become more productive, profitable, sustainable and environmentally responsive. Integrated farming provides not only healthy, safe and diverse food for his family but also additional income. This farming practice also enables him to share his knowledge on diversified and organic farming to others. His neighbours are already accessing planting materials and organic products from his farm.
Nong Diego vows to conduct more plant breeding activities, not for the reward or recognition but to help other farmers. “I am glad my efforts did not go to waste,” he says, smiling.
His efforts definitely did not go to waste for he developed a precious resource that, if well cared for, will be around for generations to come. Indeed, when a good seed benefits others beyond time, a farmer lives forever. [Ends]
