Aimed to showcase, transfer, and disseminate technologies on crop-livestock integrated farming system, the Department of Agriculture (DA)-CALABARZON conducted a farmers’ training on 3-4 November 2021 at Barangays Bucal 3 and Garita, Maragondon, Cavite followed by a farmers’ field day on the second day.
The technologies are part of the project titled, “Outscaling of Integrated Rice-Based Farming System (Rice-Rice+Duck)” funded by the DA-Bureau of Agricultural Research being implemented by DA-CALABARZON research division.
The project aims to increase rice production and farmers’ income through updated rice production package of technologies (e.g. rice crop manager, PalayCheck, integrated nutrient management, and intergrated pest management), hence, ensure sustainable production and availability of food.
With four rice cluster areas serving as project sites, each site was provided with duck housing or shelter for 100 ducks and 10 drakes each FA site (total of 550 heads)
as counterpart of the Regional Livestock Banner Program. Fifty farmer cooperators served as beneficiaries with a total of 50 hectares rice fields.
According to Elizabeth Gregorio, project leader, the use of ducks as an alternative to chemical pesticides helps not only in improving the quality of grains in a safer manner but also for the health and safety of farmers.
“This is also considered as an agri-business enterprise approach, wherein integration of ducks will provide additional income to the farmers through production and selling of fresh eggs, incubation to produce and sell ducklings, and egg processing or value adding technologies,” she added.
Also, farmers were taught with strategies on reducing the incidence of pests particularly rice black bug and golden apple snails through biological control measures as component of integrated pest management technology.
During the two-day training, the farmer cooperators and two farmer adopters of the project were equipped with proper techniques on the management and maintenance of the incubator for duckling production and duck egg processing technologies.
The outscaling of rice-based farming system was adopted from the matured technology of the Community-based Participatory Action Research on Rice-Rice+Duck in Tanay, Rizal (CY 2014) that noted a 30 percent increase in income versus the farmers’ practice. Also, through utilization of PSB RC 18, 82 and 240, yield per hectare increased by 14.5 percent. The integration of duck also recorded a reduction of the pest infestations.