Three years after the inception of the Community-based Participatory Action Research (CPAR) on mungbean production in Sitio Camiring, Brgy. Barong, Dingras, Ilocos Norte, farmer-cooperators here will soon release the first ever mungbean certified seeds produced in the area.
Mr. Mark Ariel Agresor, Project leader of CPAR project in Ilocos announced this during the field day of CPAR-based mungbean production project held on April 28, 2022 at Brgy. Barong, Dingras, Ilocos Norte.
According to Mr. Agresor, the members of the CSDCS and Lanas Farmers Association in Dingras after having learned the production technologies in mungbean and having passed the rigid requirement of becoming seed growers are now ready to cater the needs on mungbean seeds for planting.
Using the ‘sileng’ and ‘kusapo’ varieties of mungbean, the association shall be planting the 100 clustered areas to serve the increasing demand for mungbean in the market.
In his testimony during the field day activity, Mr. Marcial Root thanked the Department of Agriculture in Ilocos Region through the Research and Development Division for conducting research and experimental projects such as CPAR which paved way for farmers like him to be more empowered and committed to adopt production technologies that he could use in his farm.
“Pagyamanak unay dagiti nasursuro mi a teknolohiya nga imburay kadakami dagiti mamaestro mi ta nasursuro mi no kasano a maibaba iti gastos mi iti panagtalon,” (I am very much grateful for the technologies imparted to us by our facilitators as we learned how to lower our cost of production.”) Mr. Root said.
Adopting the cost-reducing technologies in mungbean production using various ways to minimize the cost of production such as the use of biocontrol agents and organic pesticides as well as balanced fertilization,
Mr. Edgar Cornelio Ramos, one of the members of Lanas Farmers Association, expressed gratitude to the facilitators of the CPAR project as it not only provided him and the other farmer-cooperators higher income but inspired them to share the knowledge they acquired during the training sessions.
Among the five demo tests, the balanced fertilization and pesticide used strategies showed the most significant result in terms of yield with a 50% increase in production as compared to the farmers’ practice.
From the 560kg/ha. yield using the farmer’s practice, the cooperators were able to yield a total of 1,200 kg/ha. with the use of balanced fertilization and pesticide strategies in the field as reported during the field day.
Meanwhile, Dr. Florentino Adame, OIC-Regional Technical Director For Research & Regulations joined the Provincial High Value Crops Program Coordinator, Mr. Chot Baldovi’s resolution of strengthening the cluster farming approach in planting mungbean in the province for better promotion and linkages among the stakeholders in the mungbean industry towards an improved production and marketing strategies on mungbean.
Likewise, Mr. Baldovi expressed his insights and hope for the development of a seed variety that would simultaneously mature as well as the development of a mechanized mungbean harvester to facilitate harvesting, thus, making mungbean planting highly profitable.
– RAFIS Ilocos Region FB Page
