DA partners with ICRISAT in soil rejuvenation program

MANILA, Philippines - ICRISAT director general Dr. William Dar was recently  in the country to spearhead the “Yamang Lupa,” a new program that aims to rejuvenate and restore to health the condition of the soil in the Philippines. 

Yamang Lupa is a joint program of the Department of Agriculture, through the Bureau of Soils & Water Management (DA-BSWM), and the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).  

“We need to rehabilitate our soils and put it back into a healthy condition,” said Dar, who served as Agriculture Secretary from 1998-1999, before he joined ICRISAT to be its first Asian and Filipino director general of the India-based research facility. 

The program, according to Dar, takes off from ICRISAT’s “Bhoochetana” project in Karnataka, India where over four million hectares of farmland have been rejuvenated. 

Aside from soil rejuvenation, a second set of intervention is incorporated in the program which includes the introduction of new varieties of crops in the production system and a new extension and delivery system such as the organization of farmer facilitators that would assist in upgrading information for the benefit of some four million farmers.

“To improve existing crops in a given production system, the program will introduce new seeds and varieties of planting materials.  But before doing that, the entry point is to know exactly the health condition of the soil and soil mapping is crucial, with soil analysis being the first step in the process,” Dar explained. 

The initial step of Yamang Lupa is the collection of soil samples for analysis starting in four provinces namely Quezon, Eastern Samar, Leyte, and Zamboanga Sibugay where the project targets to recondition a total of 30,000 hectares of land. 

“If proven successful in the four pilot provinces, the technologies will be recommended for implementation throughout the entire country,” he added. 

The second step is a rapid rural appraisal and base lining to determine a level of comparison and evaluate the program’s gains. 

Rice, as well as other crops in rain-fed areas, would be covered by the program.   

Dar delivered the keynote message at a seminar on New Development and Trends on Organic Farming, held last  Jan. 10 at the BSWM Convention Hall. The seminar  was attended by farmers and advocates of natural farming in the country.