permaculture

[venaurafarm <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>]

On 11/28/2012 9:16 PM, venaurafarm wrote:

>       Philippine Basic Education: DepEd's K to 12: "Yes" to Rice Terraces ...
>       philbasiceducation.blogspot.com/.../depeds-k-to-12-yes-to-rice...
>       Jun 25, 2012 – This article, first published in Philippine Star,
> was my attempt to ... For those in senior high school, we developed a
> curriculum based on the Rice Terraces .... Jurgenne Primavera is a
> Researcher in the Aquaculture Department ...

Global mangrove conservation efforts:

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Dr. Jurgenne Primavera is a Researcher in the Aquaculture Department of 
the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center in the Philippines. She 
holds a PhD in Marine Science from the University of the Philippines. 
She will use her Pew fellowship to promote protection of the country's 
mangrove ecosystems, which are threatened by construction of aquaculture 
ponds and other exploitation. Primavera's message is that mangroves can 
save lives and property from destructive typhoons, filter out silt 
runoff that kills coral reefs, provide nurseries to juvenile fish and 
shrimp, and renew fisheries catches.
        
Having spent many years promoting the construction of aquaculture ponds 
in mangrove areas, Primavera's message of mangrove protection carries 
significant weight. Primavera will develop educational materials and 
give thesis grants to high school and college students in the provinces 
of Iloilo and Aklan, where mangrove loss has been severe. In addition, 
she will promote improved government protection of mangroves and 
increased enforcement of current regulations.

http://pew.seafdec.org.ph/index.html

Sumber : 
http://philbasiceducation.blogspot.com/2012/06/depeds-k-to-12-yes-to-rice-terraces-no.html#ixzz2DZexNR6M


>       [PDF]
>       NATURAL FARMING IN THE : PHILIPPINES - Terraquaculture
>       www.terraquaculture.net/.../Workman_...
>       File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - Quick View
>       The terraces protect the soil, preventing erosion from surface
> run-off and the forests above ensure continued water and nutrient flow
> to the rice terraces as the ...

From the .pdf [what a find!]:

TERRAQUACULTURE:

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The village of Bulpog is located at approximately 2400 metres above sea 
level in Ifugao province,
central Luzon, the largest island of the Philippines. It is an area 
characterized by mountainous terrain,
steep river valleys and large forests. The village is inhabited by a 
clan of Kalanguya tribes people,
farmers and foresters.
The farmers here operate a traditional system of farming, variations of 
which can be found throughout
the mountains of northern Luzon and in other remote regions throughout 
Asia. It is a system of farming
that was dominant in the Asia Pacific region before the introduction of 
mechanized/chemical
agriculture and/or pastoralism. It is a system of terraquaculture 
(earth-water farming),1 a natural
farming system that utilizes the existing features of environments 
(eco-structures) in developing highly
productive and sustainable systems. In particular it works with the 
natural flows of water through the
landscape, making optimal use of the water and the nutrients it carries.
In the steep mountain valleys surrounding Bulpog the basic pattern of 
the farming system is terraced
rice paddies as low down in the system as possible with vegetables grown 
around the edges of the
paddies and managed forest (pinguo) above. The forest is recognized as 
the source of water and fertility
that keeps the whole system productive. The terraces protect the soil, 
preventing erosion from surface
run-off and the forests above ensure continued water and nutrient flow 
to the rice terraces as the water
percolates through the humus of the forest floor and seeps downhill into 
the terraced paddies.

FOREST FARMING, COMPLEX POLYCULTURES & SELF-SEEDING PROPAGATION OF CROP 
PLANTS

The Bulpog clan of the Kalanguya people are true forest dwellers. Much 
of their food, their medicines,
shelter and many items used in daily life are products of their forests. 
Their cash crops of coffee and
betel nut are grown throughout the forest. Food grown in the forest and 
on its fringes includes avocado, coconut, taro, cassava, chili, citrus, 
papaya, banana, pineapple, rattan, ginger, yam as well as various
fungi and wild honey. The distinction between farmed and wild food is 
truly blurred in these forests. In a sense everything is ‘farmed’ in 
that selective ‘weeding’ of the forest is done in order to promote the
growth of the most desirable species but at the same time everything 
grown in the forest is somewhat wild as self-seeding is the main method 
of propagation and everything is grown in truly complex polycultures.

What is not grown in the forest, or on the forest edge around dwellings 
and along pathways, is produced as part of the paddy system. The farmers 
here grow from one to three crops of rice per paddy
field per year depending on the variety (hundreds of different rice 
varieties are grown in Ifugao province) and how much time they want to 
spend in their paddies. While rice is the main staple any
failure in the rice crop could be covered by the secondary staples of 
taro and cassava. The people here may be ‘poor’ but they are certainly 
in no risk of starvation! The rice paddies are also biodiverse 
polycultural systems. With the rice is grown taro and azolla, ducks,
molluscs and fish (various kinds of snails, fresh water crayfish and 
loaches). On the walls of the paddies legumes are grown, usually the 
winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus), a delicious and
highly nutritious bean that is also an excellent nitrogen fixer. Other 
vegetables are grown around the edges of the paddies but on occasion 
whole plots of vegetables are planted. These more recognizable
vegetable gardens are used to form new terraces. The farmers create rows 
running with the slope so that the act of gardening slowly moves the 
soil downhill, eventually creating a level terrace that can be used
as a paddy.

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[This is so impressive! Talk about lush vegetation. What a wonderful 
diet they must have. This is great reading and contains input from 
Sandor Ellix Katz.]
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