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Sustainability
NESCAFÉ promotes soil, water
conservation in farms
April 2007
NESCAFÉ's ongoing soil and water conservation programs
in coffee farms throughout the Philippines are proving to
be especially beneficial during the dry months of the year.
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Joel Lumagbas, head of Nestlé Philippines Inc. (NPI)
agricultural services department, says the company is promoting
soil and water conservation programs in coffee farms in various
ways through NESCAFÉ's Coffee-Based Sustainable Farming
System (CBSFS) under the worldwide drive of Sustainable Agriculture
Initiative of Nestlé (SAIN).
One method uses Jatropha Curcas, known locally as "tuba-tuba".
Aside from being a good source of glycerol and bio-diesel,
Jatropa Curcas is one of the secondary crops CBSFS has actively
been promoting to provide additional income for farmers and
prevents soil erosion.
Because of its strong root system, Jatropha grows almost anywhere;
even on gravelly, sandy and saline soils. It can hold water
and survive the driest of seasons.
"Jatropha is currently being used extensively in Africa
and India as a strategy to arrest soil erosion and the expansion
of desert lands," says Lumagbas.
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Another soil conservation measures that NESCAFÉ's
CBSFS advocates is the Sloping Agricultural Land Technology
or SALT.
Developed by missionaries in Bansalan, Davao del Sur in the
early 1970s, it is a technology that integrates soil conservation
and food production by combining different soil conservation
measures in just one setting.
Basically, SALT is a method of growing field and permanent
crops in three-meter to five-meter-wide bands between contoured
rows of nitrogen fixing trees. The nitrogen fixing trees are
thickly planted in double rows to make hedgerows. When a hedge
is 1.5 to 2 meters tall, it is cut down to about 75 centimeters
and the cuttings (tops) are placed in alley-ways to serve
as organic fertilizers.
More importantly, SALT allows farming in uplands and rolling
terrains with slope of more than 15 percent.
"Currently, we are applying SALT in two coffee demonstration
farms we helped build in Davao and Sultan Kudarat," shares
Lumagbas. "Both farm lands are mountainous with elevation
between 600 to 800 meters above sea level."
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According to the Department of Science and Technology's agro-forestry
study, SALT is a simple, applicable, low-cost, and timely
method of farming uplands. It is a technology developed for
Asian farmers with few tools, little capital, and little learning
in agriculture.
"Another strategy that we are teaching the farmers is
the establishment of 'check dams' or artificial barriers to
slow-down the flow of run-off water in small gullies with
the use of bamboo stakes and sand bags," adds Lumagbas.
Check dams are standard practice in commercial pineapple plantations
in Mindanao.
Lumbagbas says that this practice should be adapted to all
upland farms to save the topsoil and prevent the disastrous
effects of soil erosion such as mudslides, landslides and
flash flooding. With this in place, as the run-off water hits
the barriers, its velocity will be reduced thus preventing
the gullies from getting bigger and deeper.
"What eventually happens is that the topsoil that gets
collected in these check dams levels the small gully and becomes
a fertile ground for planting crops," tells Lumagbas.
Topsoil, the rich and fertile part of agricultural land, stores
plant nutrients, air and moisture. The nutrients in topsoil
are crucial to crop production. So if the topsoil is lost
due to soil erosion or industrialization, a good harvest is
not possible from farm lands unless the farmers use expensive
commercial fertilizer.
"NESCAFÉ realizes the topsoil's importance in
sustainable coffee farming and has taken the lead to conserve
it," says Lumagbas.
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