By Henrylito D. Tacio
“Only when the last tree has been cut, the last river poisoned, and the last fish caught will we realize we can’t eat money.” — Native American proverb
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“We are fast losing our forests,” laments Roy C. Alimoane, the director of the Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center (MBRLC), a non-government organization based in barangay Kinuskusan in Bansalan, Davao del Sur. “This is one of the reasons why it is very hot wherever you go these days. There are no trees that can help neutralize the warm weather.”
It has been like this since ten years ago. But he observes that the heat of the sun is getting stronger each year. “Once you are directly hit by the sunlight, the heat seems to penetrate your skin,” Alimoane claims.
The center has developed a system that can help arrest further encroachment of the uplands, where most forests are still intact. Sixty percent of the country’s 30 million hectares are classified as uplands, whose slopes ranging 18% upward.
Alimoane calls the system as Sustainable Agroforest Land Technology or SALT 3. “It’s a small-scale reforestation program where one half of the area is allotted for crop production and another half to tree growing,” he explains.
Actually, SALT 3 is a modification of Sloping Agricultural Land Technology (SALT 1), which raises agricultural crops in between the two hedgerows of different nitrogen-fixing trees. The hedgerows are cut every 15 days and the cuttings are used as mulching materials and fertilizer for the crops.
“The principle of original SALT is the same that used by the Ifugao tribes,” Alimoane says. “All we are doing is using ipil-ipil, kakawate, and other fast-growing shrubs and trees instead of rocks.”
The SALT 1 scheme requires careful management of the strips between the hedgerows. A combination of permanent (cacao and coffee, for instance), semi-permanent (banana and yam bean, to name a few), and annual crops (beans, pulses, vegetables, upland rice, and corn) is recommended so as to rebuild the ecosystem and maximize yields while enabling farmers to organize their work time efficiently.
In the SALT 1 system, crop rotation is recommended. For instance, strips planted with cereals earlier are interchanged with peanuts or winged beans in the next cropping season. “Crop rotation helps preserve the regenerative properties of the soil and avoid the problems of infertility typical of traditional agricultural practices,” Alimoane says.
Various crops are planted throughout the farm. “Some of the crops should be planted to feed the farmer’s family, while other crops are grown for sale, so family income is well spread out over the season,” Alimoane says. “Every week or every month, there’s always something to harvest.”
That’s SALT 1. The second modification is called SALT 2, which stands for Simple Agro-Livestock Technology. Livestock refers to goats, which are good sources of protein for the farmers, especially those living in the uplands. It has been found that most of those who live in the uplands are malnourished because of the lack of protein sources. The manure of the goats are also used a fertilizer for the crops.
With climate change, deforestation, food insecurity and water scarcity the country is now facing, the two-hectare SALT 3 seems to be the possible solution. “Trees are planted in the upper portion of the farm to minimize the impact of the water during the rainy season,” says Alimoane.
The MBRLC director talks about “tree time zones” of 1-5, 6-10, 11-15 and 16-20 years, within which progressively more valuable products are harvested. Some very valuable trees could be left longer, and he dubs this “the grandchild project.” “Plant something for your grandchildren,” he says.
Each tree species are given compartments. The first compartment is planted to rain tree (Samanea saman), where the ground portion are planted to rattan. The second compartment is allotted to mahogany (Sweitenia macrophylla) and two types of Acacia (auriculiformis and mangium). The lower portion is planted to trees that can be utilized for firewood like Sesbania sesban and Leucaena diversifolia, both fast-growing trees.
The other portion of the farm is allocated for crop production. The system of SALT 1 is followed. Two hedgerows are planted and crops are grown in the strips between the hedgerows. Permanent crops are planted every third strip.
As a boundary between the two portions, bamboo is planted. “The bamboo serves as the filter of the water that goes to the agricultural crops,” Alimoane says. “We know that in steep areas, the water from the top portion comes rushing.”
Alimoane hopes that more farmers will adopt the SALT 3 system in their farms. “It’s high time for Filipino farmers to think of not only for the present but also for the future. The land is not given for this generation alone but also for the next and forthcoming generations.”
It seems that SALT 3 is also the solution to the denudation of the country’s forest. The total forest cover shrank from 10.5 million hectares in 1968 to 6.1 million hectares in 1991, records from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) showed.
However, in the past four years, the country’s forest cover has grown by at least a million hectares — from 6.8 million hectares to 7.8 million hectares, according to Environment Secretary Ramon JP Paje.
Some studies have shown that over the last 90 years, commercial logging has decimated 16 million hectares of the country’s forest cover. In 1989, the government imposed a lumber export ban in an effort to save the country’s forests from uncontrolled illegal logging. The following year, the ban was quietly lifted, but was reinstated after loud criticism.
Logging is not the sole culprit when it comes to deforestation. Slash-and-burn farmers, called kaingineros, can also be blamed. They cleared forests of trees and plant agricultural crops. They make pathways which later become roads for more people to encroach forested areas.
There are also people who cut trees for fuelwood or charcoal for their cooking and household energy needs. What is alarming is that dependence on wood energy is not declining.
Some studies show that supplying wood and charcoal to users provides jobs for people in growing, harvesting, processing, wholesaling, transporting and retailing.
Other causes of deforestation are forest fires, mining operations, geothermal explorations, dam construction and operation; and land development projects such as construction of subdivision, industrial estates, and commercial sites.
Volcanic eruptions have also devastated some of the country’s forests. Recent super typhoons like Yolanda and Pablo have also devastated considerable hectares of forest cover in the country.
As a consequence of the continuous removal of forest cover, particularly those in the uplands, the Philippines now experienced different environmental problems. “Most of these were not seen in such intensity and magnitude before our time,” Alimoane deplores. “The signs cry out for immediate, nationwide attention.”
According to him, soil erosion is one of the most serious problems Filipinos may encounter with the rapid disappearance of forest cover. In 1988, the environment department said in 13 provinces, more than 50 percent of the total area was eroded. Soil loss ranges from 50 to 300 tons per hectare per year. These rates signify five to 30 times the maximum soil loss levels for any type of soil.
“Soil erosion, especially in the uplands, is now an extremely serious problem in the country,” Alimoane points out. “It does not only result in increasing the impoverishment of the Filipino farmers, but also destroys other things down under.”
Siltation, caused by erosion, shortens the productive life spans of dams and reservoirs. The Magat reservoir, for instance, has been cut its probable life span of 100 years to 25 years. The Ambuklao Dam reservoir had its life halved from 60 to 32 years as a result of siltation.
Deforestation also threatens the country’s wildlife resources. The DENR reports that of the 1,657 identified bird and animal species alone, 46 are on the verge of extinction and another 18 are on the endangered list. Seven ornamental plants and several others are on the brink of disappearance, the DENR adds.
“At the rate our forests are depleted, many wildlife species may no longer be there when we need them,” argued Samuel Penafiel, former director of the DENR’s Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau.
Deforestation has also altered the climatic condition in the country. Periods of drought have become more common and extensive in the dry season while floods have prevailed in the rainy months.
Time is running out but it’s not the end of the world yet. As Rev. Harold R. Watson, former MBRLC Director and 1985 recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for international understanding, puts it:
“We face the reality of what man’s sins against the earth have caused. We see land degradation expressing itself in destruction of forests, loss of topsoil, pollution of streams and even the air we breathe. We are facing not a mere problem; we are facing destruction and even death if we continue to destroy the natural resources that support life on the earth.”
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