| LRC Network Partners
visit Mt. Carmel
Kidapawan City - Twenty-nine (29) LRC participants from Matalam, Magpet, Pres. Roxas and M’lang drew out rich experiences and learnings during their exposure trip to Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center (MBRLC) more popularly known as Mt. Carmel last September 29, 2005. The participants witnessed the technologies and practices that the institution develops and promotes.
The LRC members also saw how farming on the uplands can be productive using the Sloping Agricultural Land Technology I (SALT I). SALT I is a packaged technology of soil conservation and food production which integrates several soil conservation measures in just one setting. It involves planting of field and permanent crops in 3-5 meter bands between double-contoured rows of nitrogen fixing trees and shrubs to minimize soil erosion and maintain the fertility of the soil.
More than a dozen farmers, upon seeing the institution’s 19-hectare demo farm, were filled with awe, expressing that, in using the technology, not only would farmers generate more income from their upland farms, they would as well help inhibit environmental degradation. Farmers also learned that soil erosion is a natural process. However, human activities and sometimes their ignorance speed up the process thereby posing a threat to the environment and the living conditions of people.
They learned how soil erosion causes the loss of soil fertility, thus decreasing of agricultural yields. Further, they learned that its off-site effect is disruption of the ecosystems of the bodies of water. The visit was indeed very inspiring and informative. Some of the participants have never heard of these before, as most of them are not highly schooled, yet, the visit inculcated in them one vital way of making agriculture/farming sustainable. It also allowed them to realize that fighting poverty starts from the farmers’ initiatives coupled with the appropriate knowledge.
The MBRLC is the originator of Sloping Agricultural Land Technology (SALT I) and its modifications, Food Always In The Home (FAITH) gardening, and other sustainable farming schemes.(MinLand-jmo)
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