BONTOC, Mt. Province – “The soil here has become very sick and may even get worst if excessive use of chemical farm inputs stay at high level,” thus said Dr. Ireneo Ramat, Head of the Fertility Division of the Bureau of Soils and Water Management of the Department of Agriculture (DA).

Speaking before a group of farmers during the opening program of the 5th Cordillera Organic Agriculture Congress last week at the Mt. Province Multi-Purpose Hall, Ramat called on farmers to shift from synthetic to organic farm inputs if they want to save their soil.

Vegetable farmers in the province resort to massive application of inorganic fertilizers and pesticides to match the high production of lowland farmers. But this practice unknowingly is actually killing your major source of livelihood, because you will soon loss your soil when it can no longer bring you enough income, Ramat quipped.

Ramat offered what he called as alternative organic agriculture to help farmers in the area recover healthy soil condition which he said is even friendlier to the environment and would reduce production cost.

Under organic agriculture, farmers are taught to practice several ways on soil fertility like green manuring, a system of incorporating into the soil green plant materials. Plants planted earlier are allowed to reach the flowering stage before plowed into the soil for the next cropping.

Though considered by some farmers as a losing practice, green manuring absorbs unbalanced nutrients and becomes compost to the soil. It prevents the plant from harmful insects and bad effects of continuous cropping, Ramat explained. This is very effective in legume farming, he said.

Ramat also cited the use of chicken manure as rich substitute for chemical urea in vegetables. He encouraged farmers to drop-by the poultry farms and fill their trucks with sacks of chicken manures after unloading their produce at markets in the lowlands.

These are some of the alternative ways to hasten healthy soil recovery in saving the industry on agriculture where most of the people in the province depend for their living, he said. ***L.Lopez/ PIA