HOUSEHOLD COMPOSTING

In Buenavista, Guimaras, small is still efficient. At the town port, baskets of fruits and vegetables are loaded into motorized bancas for delivery to traders in highly-urbanized Iloilo City (census 2000: 366,391). Transport cost per sack of vegetables or fruits is 8.00 pesos. Small farmers grow products in their farms like ornamental plants, mangoes, jackfruit, kalamansi, rice, green corn, and vegetables like lettuce, eggplant, ampalaya, okra, beans, and upo. The forbidding costs of commercial fertilizer and the rapid deterioration of the soils brought about by the relentless use of chemicals compel the farmers to search for ways to improve their situation. One such alternative is composting.

In pilot farms in barangay San Nicolas, a group of farmers have participated in a training on composting techniques and methods .They brought food and compost materials to the venue. After the training, they put up compost heaps and boxes in their own backyards and farms. Agricultural wastes such as animal manure, rice straw, saw dust, kakawate, hagonoy, madre de cacao are mixed and prepared. The compost products are then applied to their crops. The farmers attest to the benefits of composting: lesser costs, lesser soil acidity, stronger and healthier plants, and more income from their harvests.

Other barangays have later joined in. Training on composting has been conducted in barangays San Fernando, Banban, and Cansilayan. Other community groups took part: the Association of Cut-flower Growers, the Organic Vegetable Owners Association affiliated with the Municipal Agriculture and Fishery Council (MAFC), members of the Christian Child Welfare Association (CCWA) and ethnic communities belonging to the Aeta tribe in barangay San Nicolas.

The Solid Waste Management Office and the Municipal Agriculture Office(MAO) of the municipality spearhead the LGUs initiatives to spread the practice of composting widely among the households in the barangays of Buenavista. The 2 offices develop training modules, guides and manuals and coordinate with other training groups to enrich their knowledge and skills on composting. The LGU agriculture extension workers speak of trials using different types of composts on various types of vegetables and fruit trees.

In Buenavista, Guimaras, small is also beautiful. The idyllic countryside (pop. density of 294 per sq. km.) is dotted with huts in nests of fruit trees and vegetable garden. If all the actors can be mobilized with the support of the LGU officials of the 5 municipalities, the tiny island of Guimaras may yet be destined to be the supplier of organic products for Region 6 in the not too distant future.