Now a by-word in parts of the region, Palayamanan actually means Intensive Rice-based Farming Systems Technology Demonstration Farms, a joint project of the Department of Agriculture-Philippine Rice Research Institute (DA-PhilRice) and the DA-Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR).
That better times are now upon many of the program’s farmer-participants (FPs) is best exemplified by the experiences of those in Sta. Cruz, Ilocos Sur.
During the past rice cropping seasons, for instance, the FPs in the town realized net incomes as high as P30,600 per season.
"Before the establishment of the Palayamanan sites, most of the areas were left fallow during the dry seasons," reported PhilRice researchers N. Q. Abrogena, A Aguinaldo, L.M dela Cruz, and Dr. R Castro.
For the dry seasons 2002, 2003, and 2004, vegetables and other crops were introduced and planted after the main rice crop in Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, and Abra.
"The production technology interventions introduced in the Palayamanan sites successfully increased yields, which resulted in increased incomes of the farmer-partners," the researchers pointed out.
The program was launched in 2001 in Pasuquin and Currimao, both in Ilocos Norte; Sta. Cruz, Bantay, and Sta. Lucia, all in Ilocos Sur; Pidigan, Abra; and Bacnotan, La Union.
The following year, it was expanded to cover some parts of Apayao and Cagayan.
BAR Director Nicomedes P. Eleazar said the program aims "to increase the yield and income of farmers through the use of new and appropriate technologies and introduction of diverse crops and livestock in traditional farming systems."
"Through the program, we are giving you varied strategies of farming activities as you, our farmer-partners, become educated and try to explore the possibilities in integrated crop management," he said at the Palayamanan Farmers’ Congress held recently at the PhilRice-National Tobacco Administration (NTA) office in Batac.
The program trains farmers into becoming farmer-scientists, farmer-researchers, and extensionists.
Eleazar said that whatever the farmer-partners learn from Palayamanan, they share them with fellow farmers through the Palayamanan, a farmer field school. – Rudy A. Fernandez