Army introduces organic farming in Negros

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Army in Negros Oriental will launch an organic farming project to help poor residents of Sitio Kakha in Barangay Talalak in Sta. Catalina town. Online news site Visayan Daily Star reported that organic farming and vermiculture will be part of a Gawad Kalinga housing project. Col. Cesar Yano, commander of the 302nd Infantry Brigade based in Tanjay City in Negros Oriental, said soldiers are introducing the new farming program to residents at the GK site. Yano said that while the GK beneficiaries have not yet moved in to their new homes because of the absence of electricity and water supply, they are already trained on how to produce vermi-cast, a type of organic fertilizer derived from cultured worms such as the African Night Crawler. According to Yano, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources has allocated a five-hectare lot for communal farming for the GK Housing residents. Yano and Lt. Col. Erwin Bernard Neri, commander of the 79th Infantry Battalion, visited the GK Housing site in Kakha and delivered a batch of organic fertilizer and vermi. He said the lot will be planted to sweet corn, as the crop is easy to grow with a shorter harvest period. In Pamplona town, sweet corn production is booming with a demand for the crop in the market continuously rising. Sweet corn from Pamplona could hardly meet the demands for nearby Tanjay City alone, he added. He also said they will help find a market for Kakha residents engaged in the planting of sweet corn. The organic farming project is part of the non-combat approach of the military in its anti-insurgency campaign to help alleviate the life of poor communities. Poverty had driven many to join the communist New People's Army. - GMANews.TV