SMALL farmers who explored the new banana-cacao intercrop farming system introduced by the Federation of Cooperatives in Mindanao (FEDCO) in partnership with ACDI/VOCA will only wait two years upon planting their cacao before they could harvest and earn handsomely from the cacao they have planted in between bananas.
FEDCO chief executive officer Ireneo Dalayon said the banana-cacao intercropping project of FEDCO started sometime in 2011. After two years, sometimes in 2014, the farmers could already harvests the cacao fruits.
FEDCO implemented the banana-cacao intercropping called the Cacao-Banana Agri-Enterprise Development (CBAED) with the help of ACDI/VOCA which was commissioned by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to implement integrated farming systems in Mindanao.
Dalayon said about 2,000 farmers are enrolled in the CBAED project covering about 200 hectares in Sto. Tomas and Asuncion in Davao del Norte.
As of today, about 30-40 hectares were already intercropped with banana and cacao. Dalayon said planting on the remaining hectares would be completed by June this year. FEDCO has provided 100 free cacao seedlings per hectare to the farmers.
He said the nurseries required in each of the four Cacao Banana Extension Centers (CBECS) established by FEDCO under the CBAED project would be the source of cacao seedlings supply of FEDCO for the project and future expansions. About 5,000 cacao seedlings are planted in each of the four nurseries, Dalayon said.
The project is supposed to end this month, but due to series of bad weather brought about by storms affecting Davao Region including Davao del Norte, the completion of the project is a little bit delayed, he said.
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