Allergy - the Surreptitious Pandemic
Dr Abe V Rotor
Part 1 - The case of shoe dye* in tamarind sweet
- a personal experience
A typical food cart in Manila sells colored cold drink to beat summer.
There are products made to appear like cocoa, coffee, orange, strawberry, grapes and the like, when in fact the ingredients are mainly sugar, artificial flavors and food dyes.
How many food preparations are artificially colored for better presentation? Since that time on I have become more careful with colored foods. Ube cake, anyone?
One test to know if a food color is artificial is that it is detected in the urine. Natural colors, on the other hand, are either degraded by our excretory system or absorbed as a useful nutrient, as in the case of the yellow pigment of corn which is carotene. Carotene brightens the skin, deepens the yellow color of egg yolk, and lends freshness in meat. Carotene and xanthophyll from carrots and squash, lycopene in tomato are useful to our body. They make us glow, so to speak, improve our vision, and fight off cancer.
Food dyes are like artist's colors. Primary colors come up with various secondary and tertiary colors, including designs, saturation, hues and accents.
How many food preparations are artificially colored for better presentation? Since that time on I have become more careful with colored foods. Ube cake, anyone?
One test to know if a food color is artificial is that it is detected in the urine. Natural colors, on the other hand, are either degraded by our excretory system or absorbed as a useful nutrient, as in the case of the yellow pigment of corn which is carotene. Carotene brightens the skin, deepens the yellow color of egg yolk, and lends freshness in meat. Carotene and xanthophyll from carrots and squash, lycopene in tomato are useful to our body. They make us glow, so to speak, improve our vision, and fight off cancer.
Food dyes are like artist's colors. Primary colors come up with various secondary and tertiary colors, including designs, saturation, hues and accents.
There are some things to consider about food dyes, specially if you suspect a food or drink to be colored artificially.
Be familiar with the natural colors of fruits and other food products. There are rare ones though. For example, purple rice cake (puto) comes from a variety pirurutong or purple rice.
Ordinary rice flour and ube flour produce the same color. This can be imitated with the use of purple dye.
Fruit juices carry dyes to enhance their natural colors. Example, calamansi juice is made to appear like lemon or orange. Softdrinks would look dull and unattractive without artificial colors. Dyes mask natural variations in color and enhances naturally occurring colors. The sparkle and crystalline color of wine may be the result of judicious color blending.
Processed foods like smoked fish and ham are colored, usually golden yellow, or deep brown to make them look attractive. I once observed in a factory the practice of spraying a solution of yellow pigment on smoked fish to make it look newly processed and the body fat visible.Brightly colored Easter eggs
Other uses of artificial color or dye are in medicine to protect flavors, and minerals and vitamins from damage by light. Thus multivitamins are usually colored usually with bright yellow which appears in urine. Colored coatings of medicines and drugs are used to monitor prescribed doses in patients.
Cloudifier to make vinegar look like Sukang Paumbong or sasa, or something natural, is actually adding a few drops of milk to a dilute solution of acetic acid. This overnight formulation is popular in the market, because it is cheap, but the truth is that glacial acetic acid is not good to health.
Cakes and other bakery products may deceive the eye and even the palate. Nothing beats the icing of birthday and wedding cakes. Bakers as artists use colors perhaps more than the full spectrum of the rainbow. I am amazed at how they express their art with the colors of Marc Chagall's stained glass, Pablo Picasso's fresh abstracts, and Rembrandt's sunset and midnight hues. With red, yellow and blue - the primary colors - plus white, there are artists who can create all the colors they need in their masterpieces. utB we cannot mix food with art using artificial colors.
Fortunately we are among the riches countries when it comes to natural food colors and dyes - orange, red to purple from oranges, grapes and strawberry; green from the leaves of pandan (Pandanus odoratissimus) and green paddy rice (pinipig); dark red to black from the fruits of duhat and bignay; purple color from ube (Dioscorea alata); and golden yellow from mango, pineapple, and tumeric (Corcuma longa).
Achuete or anatto (Bixa orellana)
The list is virtually endless, if we include colors from muscovado sugar, coffee, cacao, banana, mangosteen, avocado, nangka, and the like.
By the way, what is the most common source of natural color and dye?
It is achuete or anatto (Bixa orellana). Achuete is a small to medium size tree introduced from Mexico (achuete is an Aztec word) during the Spanish times. Today it is used to impart or improve the color and flavor of cheese, butter, yogurt, noodles, pasta, macaroni, and cakes and many confectionery products.
I cannot imagine if there is no achuete in batchoy, apretada, azucena, caldereta, paella, kare-kare, arroz valenciana, lechon, and many other dishes.
Allow me to post this news item on food dye published by Philippine Daily Inquirer on the Internet.
Artificial colors impart attractive presentation of processed food like bagoong.
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Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines—The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned the public about processed food products found positive for rhodamine-B, a cancer-causing substance found in coloring dye.
In an advisory posted on its website last week, the FDA said three of 34 food product samples it tested for nonpermissible colorants (NPC) were found positive for rhodamine-B.
According to the FDA, the samples it tested were taken from ambulant vendors, public markets, groceries and supermarkets in the National Capital Region and Central Visayas.
“Most of the samples were unregistered and noncompliant with food product labeling standards,” said FDA acting director general Kenneth Hartigan Go in the advisory.
Some of the products were icing candy from Cebu Crown Grocery, red gulaman from the Carbon Public Market and shrimp paste (labeled 7C’s) from Robinson’s Grocery in Talisay, Cebu.
“The food processors of the three products are in violation of the FDA Act of 2009 (Republic Act No. 9711) and the Consumer Act of the Philippines (RA 7394) on the adulteration of processed food,” said Go.
Go said the FDA Act of 2009 requires all locally manufactured and imported processed food products to be registered with the Food and Drug Administration.
“This requirement is in addition to the permits issued by the local government units (LGUs) and other government agencies,” he said.
Meanwhile, five other products that the FDA tested needed further confirmatory tests for the presence of NPC Sudan.
Rhodamine-B is a fluorescent dye used as a tracer in water and air flow studies, and in molecular and cell biology studies. It presents as a red to violet powder. It has been shown to be carcinogenic in mammalian models.
On the other hand, industrial grade Sudan dye is not permitted for use in food because it is toxic, carcinogenic and likely contains metals like mercury and arsenic. Sudan dyes are used in shoe and floor polish, solvents, oils, waxes and petrol.
The FDA advised consumers to buy processed food products from legitimate food establishments and outlets.
He urged consumers to report food processors using suspect food coloring additives.
NOTE: In another article researchers say there may be a link between artificial food dyes and behavioral problems in children with certain medical conditions.
Annex 2 - SHOE DYE POISONING
C. W. MUEHLBERGER, Ph.D.
Achuete or anatto (Bixa orellana)
The list is virtually endless, if we include colors from muscovado sugar, coffee, cacao, banana, mangosteen, avocado, nangka, and the like.
By the way, what is the most common source of natural color and dye?
It is achuete or anatto (Bixa orellana). Achuete is a small to medium size tree introduced from Mexico (achuete is an Aztec word) during the Spanish times. Today it is used to impart or improve the color and flavor of cheese, butter, yogurt, noodles, pasta, macaroni, and cakes and many confectionery products.
I cannot imagine if there is no achuete in batchoy, apretada, azucena, caldereta, paella, kare-kare, arroz valenciana, lechon, and many other dishes.
Allow me to post this news item on food dye published by Philippine Daily Inquirer on the Internet.
Artificial colors impart attractive presentation of processed food like bagoong.
--------------------------------
Annex 1 - FDA warns vs cancer-causing food dye in candy, ‘gulaman’ ‘bagoong’
By Tina G SantosPhilippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines—The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned the public about processed food products found positive for rhodamine-B, a cancer-causing substance found in coloring dye.
In an advisory posted on its website last week, the FDA said three of 34 food product samples it tested for nonpermissible colorants (NPC) were found positive for rhodamine-B.
According to the FDA, the samples it tested were taken from ambulant vendors, public markets, groceries and supermarkets in the National Capital Region and Central Visayas.
“Most of the samples were unregistered and noncompliant with food product labeling standards,” said FDA acting director general Kenneth Hartigan Go in the advisory.
Some of the products were icing candy from Cebu Crown Grocery, red gulaman from the Carbon Public Market and shrimp paste (labeled 7C’s) from Robinson’s Grocery in Talisay, Cebu.
“The food processors of the three products are in violation of the FDA Act of 2009 (Republic Act No. 9711) and the Consumer Act of the Philippines (RA 7394) on the adulteration of processed food,” said Go.
Go said the FDA Act of 2009 requires all locally manufactured and imported processed food products to be registered with the Food and Drug Administration.
“This requirement is in addition to the permits issued by the local government units (LGUs) and other government agencies,” he said.
Meanwhile, five other products that the FDA tested needed further confirmatory tests for the presence of NPC Sudan.
Rhodamine-B is a fluorescent dye used as a tracer in water and air flow studies, and in molecular and cell biology studies. It presents as a red to violet powder. It has been shown to be carcinogenic in mammalian models.
On the other hand, industrial grade Sudan dye is not permitted for use in food because it is toxic, carcinogenic and likely contains metals like mercury and arsenic. Sudan dyes are used in shoe and floor polish, solvents, oils, waxes and petrol.
The FDA advised consumers to buy processed food products from legitimate food establishments and outlets.
He urged consumers to report food processors using suspect food coloring additives.
NOTE: In another article researchers say there may be a link between artificial food dyes and behavioral problems in children with certain medical conditions.
Annex 2 - SHOE DYE POISONING
C. W. MUEHLBERGER, Ph.D.
During the last two years, my attention has been called to ten cases of poisoning from the use of shoe dyes which contain either nitrobenzene or anilin as a solvent and which are used to dye tan or light colored leather black.These cases have been characterized by marked cyanosis, sometimes accompanied by vertigo and weakness, digestive disorders, headache and somnolence.
The danger of poisoning from nitrobenzene or anilin has been discussed particularly with regard to industrial workers. This phase of nitrobenzene and anilin intoxication is perhaps best summarized by Hamilton,1 who made a thorough investigation of such poisoning in the American dye industry. Many cases of accidental poisoning by nitrobenzene or anilin through the spilling or splashing of these liquids on the skin or clothing are recorded in the medical literature. Painters using anilin-containing paint have been poisoned by the absorption of this oil through the skin.
Acknowledgement: Wikipedia, Philippine Daily Inquirer
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Part 2 - Is Naan-annungan Allergy in Disguise?
Formerly, I can “cure” a person who is "naan-annungan"
An-annung is the Ilocano of nasapi-an in Pilipino. Spirits cast spell on a person, the old folks say. The victim may suffer of stomachache or headache accompanied by cold sweat, body weakness or feeling of exhaustion.
Well, take this case. It was dusk when a tenant of ours insisted of climbing a betel palm, Areca catechu to gather its nuts for nga-nga. My dad objected to it, but somehow the young man prevailed when dad left.
"Spellbound to the spirits of the living and the dead." A painting by a contestant in a painting competition at UST
The stubborn young man was profusely sweating and was obviously in pain, pressing his stomach against the tree trunk. Dad called for me. I examined my “patient” and assured him he will be all right. And like a passing ill wind, the spell was cast away. Dad and the people around believed I had supernatural power.
There had been a number of cases I “succeeded” in healing the naan-annungan. But I could also induce – unknowingly - the same effect on someone else. That too, my dad and old folks believed. They would sought for my “power” to cast the spell away from - this time – no other than my own “victim”. What a paradox!
As I grew up and pursued my education, my perception on the supernatural began to change. I read Nostradamus prophesy, Hawthorn's House of the Seven Gables, Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven, Washington Irving's ghostly characters like The Headless Horseman. It was fun reading Dracula, The Mummy, The Exorcist, Ghost. They are all out of this world; they just come in imagination and entertainment. And to scare naughty children.
The impressions I got from other books are different. Take the case of Alexander Dumas' Count on Monte Cristo, Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace, Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, and Charles Dicken's Oliver, Kemphis' Imitation of Christ and a lot of great writings, many considered classical because of their relevance and timelessness, and people often getting back to read them when they feel the world tightening up.
What really make people well? Of course, we have to know what make them sick of various kinds of ailmnents and symptoms in the first place.
People who are unwell are not necessarily those who are physically sick; they are those who are sick in the heart and mind. They have lost hope, they have low esteem of themselves, they are tied up with unforgettable traumatic experiences. They are full of anger and hatred. And bad intentions.
Or they have drawn into the recesses of their mind and won't like to face the world. They fear reality, so they use fantasy as shield. Things out of this world is a defeatist argument, when logic fails, when reality is distorted. Sickness is deeper than what is physiologic or pathogenic. And there is only one thing that can make these people feel well.
And that is to bring them back to self-confidence and self-trust. After that they start building confidence and trust in others.
What was my role as the boy who can dispel bad spirits that chanced upon a person? I was merely as agent of renewal. Children are like that because they are pure and innocent. They are the best healers because they bring back faith and hope which the grownups are losing or have lost. The faith healer is the master catalyst. It was Christ way of healing, the key to his miracles.
I read something about Alexander the Great consulting the Oracle at Siwa to find out if indeed he is god-sent.
“The Pharaoh will bow to you, ” the priestess told him. And it did happen - the pharaoh kissed Alexander’s feet when he arrived in Cairo.
The great warrior knew no bounds of his power, conquering empire after empire, encompassing the whole breadth of the known civilized world at that time, reaching as far as the Orient.
But alas! on the bank of the Tigris-Euphrates River, one evening the great warrior, the son of god, died. Thus ended his lofty dreams as the ruler of the world. The myth went with him. He was barely 33 years old. ~
Well, take this case. It was dusk when a tenant of ours insisted of climbing a betel palm, Areca catechu to gather its nuts for nga-nga. My dad objected to it, but somehow the young man prevailed when dad left.
"Spellbound to the spirits of the living and the dead." A painting by a contestant in a painting competition at UST
The stubborn young man was profusely sweating and was obviously in pain, pressing his stomach against the tree trunk. Dad called for me. I examined my “patient” and assured him he will be all right. And like a passing ill wind, the spell was cast away. Dad and the people around believed I had supernatural power.
There had been a number of cases I “succeeded” in healing the naan-annungan. But I could also induce – unknowingly - the same effect on someone else. That too, my dad and old folks believed. They would sought for my “power” to cast the spell away from - this time – no other than my own “victim”. What a paradox!
As I grew up and pursued my education, my perception on the supernatural began to change. I read Nostradamus prophesy, Hawthorn's House of the Seven Gables, Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven, Washington Irving's ghostly characters like The Headless Horseman. It was fun reading Dracula, The Mummy, The Exorcist, Ghost. They are all out of this world; they just come in imagination and entertainment. And to scare naughty children.
The impressions I got from other books are different. Take the case of Alexander Dumas' Count on Monte Cristo, Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace, Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, and Charles Dicken's Oliver, Kemphis' Imitation of Christ and a lot of great writings, many considered classical because of their relevance and timelessness, and people often getting back to read them when they feel the world tightening up.
What really make people well? Of course, we have to know what make them sick of various kinds of ailmnents and symptoms in the first place.
People who are unwell are not necessarily those who are physically sick; they are those who are sick in the heart and mind. They have lost hope, they have low esteem of themselves, they are tied up with unforgettable traumatic experiences. They are full of anger and hatred. And bad intentions.
Or they have drawn into the recesses of their mind and won't like to face the world. They fear reality, so they use fantasy as shield. Things out of this world is a defeatist argument, when logic fails, when reality is distorted. Sickness is deeper than what is physiologic or pathogenic. And there is only one thing that can make these people feel well.
And that is to bring them back to self-confidence and self-trust. After that they start building confidence and trust in others.
What was my role as the boy who can dispel bad spirits that chanced upon a person? I was merely as agent of renewal. Children are like that because they are pure and innocent. They are the best healers because they bring back faith and hope which the grownups are losing or have lost. The faith healer is the master catalyst. It was Christ way of healing, the key to his miracles.
I read something about Alexander the Great consulting the Oracle at Siwa to find out if indeed he is god-sent.
“The Pharaoh will bow to you, ” the priestess told him. And it did happen - the pharaoh kissed Alexander’s feet when he arrived in Cairo.
The great warrior knew no bounds of his power, conquering empire after empire, encompassing the whole breadth of the known civilized world at that time, reaching as far as the Orient.
But alas! on the bank of the Tigris-Euphrates River, one evening the great warrior, the son of god, died. Thus ended his lofty dreams as the ruler of the world. The myth went with him. He was barely 33 years old. ~
Part 3 - Natural Food and Natural Farming
"Natural farming is the key in the pursuit of this global trend. It is important in sustaining economic production, above all, the integrity of our ecosystems."
Dr Abe V Rotor
Good health and good food go together, doctors all over the world tell us. Even our children quite often explain to us the importance of proper nutrition, balanced diet, fortification with vitamins and minerals. They tell us to take high protein food, or ask us if we are taking adequate calories. Lately such terms, beta-carotene and good cholesterol have come into the picture.
Now I hear a new term, probiotics. The way I under-stand these substances is that they keep our body always on the alert to fend off stress as a result of overwork and diseases. They are front liners and act as defense shield, Now if probiotics and antibiotics (substances that directly kill germs) work together, can we then say we can have better health and longer life?
Apparently yes, confirmed a balikbayan United Nations official who is working on a new food source from cyanobacterla or blue green algae. Again, this is a revolution in food and agriculture by the fact itself that we are now taking unconventional food such as Spirulina, an ancient organism probably the first kind of living thing that appeared on earth.
Going back to the main topic, I would like to see the other side of the fence. There are many reported ailments and abnormalities, which are traced to the food we take, and it is not only for the lack of intake. Cancer for instance, is often related to food. So with high uric acid which leads to kidney trouble. High blood pressure, high cholesterol, high sugar level. Aftatoxin causes cirrhosis of the liver. Ulcers are food related. So with many allergies.
Given these premises, I would like to discuss a new frontier of agriculture which I believe4 is also the concern of other sectors of the food industry. It is not only that we must produce enough food. We must be able to produce quality food, which ensures good health, reduces risks to diseases and ailments, and prolongs life. This is the topic that I would like to take up with you in this special occasion, the 25th year or silver anniversary of NFA that I was once a part. I am going to talk about food, which should contribute to good health, long life, enjoyment, and peace of mind.
Here then are seven postulates to address this challenge to present day agriculture. We reckon the Green Revolution in the sixties which ushered production gains from improved varieties and techniques, followed by another wave in the seventies and eighties which was responsible in opening the fields of mariculture (farming the sea), and conversion of wastelands into farmlands. We soon realized that there is need “to go back to basics". Thus ecological farming was born. It is also farming with a moral cause: the enhancement of quality life, good health and long life on one hand, and the maintenance of an ecologically balance environment.
1. IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO EAT FOOD GROWN UNDER NATURAL CONDITION THAN FOOD GROWN WITH CHEMICALS. This statement can be captured with one term "natural food". All over the world this is a label is found on food grown without chemicals. People are afraid of becoming sick because of the chemicals introduced into food. They know that chemical fertilizers and pesticides go with the crops and are passed on to the body destroying our organs and systems.
No artificial additives, please. Additives such as food colorings and fillers are looked upon with suspicion.
2. PEOPLE ARE AVOIDING HARMFUL RESIDUES AND ARTIFICIAL ADDITIVES IN FOOD. A trace of certain farm chemicals is enough to condemn a whole shipment under the rules of the US Food and Drug Administration. One kind of residue that people are avoiding is antibiotics. Poultry and hog farms maintain high antibiotic levels to safeguard the animals from diseases. In so doing the antibiotics is passed on to the consumers. In the first place our body does not need antibiotics. But every time we eat eggs, chicken, pork chop, steak, and the like, we are taking in cumulatively antibiotics. This makes our immune system idle. This punishes certain organs like the kidney and liver. To others, antibiotics cause allergy.
Another culprit is radiation. Traces of radiation can be hazardous. Many countries immediately took drastic action to avoid contamination following the Chernobyl nuclear plant accident ten years ago. Then we have toxic metals emitted from manufacturing and from vehicles. These are mercury, cadmium, and lead, to name the most common pollutants in our waters today.
3. PEOPLE ARE BECOMING MORE CONSCIOUS OF THE NUTRITION VALUE OF FOOD RATHER THAN ITS PACKAGING AND PRESENTATION. Many people now reject junk foods, even if their packaging is attractive. Softdrinks have taken the backseat, courtesy of fruit juices and mineral water. People have even learned that plant varieties have different levels of food value even if they belong to the same species. To a lesser extent this is also true among the different breeds of an animal species.
4. FRESHNESS IS THE FIRST CHOICE CRITERION FOR PERISHABLE FOOD. Indeed there is no substitute to fresh-ness, a function of handling and marketing. The farmer has the first and direct hand in enhancing this quality. If he keeps his plant; healthy, their products will 'have longer shelf life. Products free from pest and diseases stay fresh longer.
5. FOOD PROCESSING MUST BE APPROPRIATE AND SAFE.
6. FOOD MUST BE FREE FROM PEST AND DISEASES.
It is shocking to find certain pest in food. So with the possibility that food is a carrier of disease organisms. Reports about infested NFA rice needs serious attention. Poor rice is an insult to the Filipino whatever is his economic status.
There has been news of food poisoning too, as a result of food deterioration, or contamination. Remember the Seven Eleven Store mass food poisoning? For a reputable establishment, such an accident deserves something to look deeper. What is the truth behind image building and advertisement?
7. FOOD PRESERVATION MUST ENSURE QUALITY, AND ABOVE ALL, SAFETY. Be aware of the fish that is stiff yet looks fresh. Be keen with formalin odor. Salitre is harmful, so with vetsin. Too much salt is not good to the body. I saw a puto maker use lye or sodium hydroxide to help in the coagulation of the starch. Sampaloc or tamarind candies are made bright red with shoe dye. So with ube to look life real ube.
Now I am going to discuss in details each postulate as it applies to the farmer, and the condition of his farm. I will try to relate the issue with actual practices so that we can draw up innovations to improve them, as we explore technologies that would settle certain issues.
8. AVOID AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE FOOD FROM GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS OR GMO. There is an increasing awareness worldwide on the potential harmful effects of taking GMO products as food. Bt corn for example carries a gene of the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, golden rice carries the yellow gene of the daffodil, milk contains recombinant bovine growth hormone. Other GMO food include soybeans, papaya, squash and zucchini, which carry "foreign" genetic material. Here is a list of countries that have banned both GMO imports and GMO cultivation: Algeria, Kyrgyzstan, Bhutan, Madagascar, Peru, Russia, Venezuela, Zimbabwe. EU members are selective in banning GMO. Most countries require labeling of GMO products, and are strict in their quarantine laws, and land use policy against GMO.
NATURAL FARMING
Community gardening, QC
First, the organic fertilizer must be free from pathogen that causes diseases.
Second, it must not carry toxic waste or metal as this kind of fertilizer is manufactured from waste materials.
Let me give you scenarios of natural farming.
1. Payatak method (Samar) - This is a local version of zero tillage. No plowing, no harrowing. A herd of carabaos trample of the soil until it turns puddle, then the one-month old seedlings are transplanted. No spray, no fertilizer. This is natural farming in the marginal sense, a carryover of traditional farming.
2. Mixed orchard (Zambales) - A mixture of several kinds of trees, orchard, firewood trees, forest trees grow together without any apparent planning. Yet these trees follow a natural pattern of arrangement. They have no common pest, they need soil fertility differentially, they have their own space niche, they make up several storeys. Management is very little. Nature takes care of everything.
3. Multiple cropping model (Sta. Maria. Bulacan) - Here the farmer engages in the production of three commodities. For Narciso Santiago, national outstanding farmer, his 2.5-ha farm produces frults, vegetables and rice. He has several heads of carabao and cattle grown on homelot, pastured between the orchard trees. A pond supplies irrigation, as it produces tilapia and mudfish. Why three commodities? It is because they are closely integrated. This is the key to natural farming where there are a number of products to be desired. First the animals produce, other than meat and milk, manure for the plants, the plants produce food for the family and market, and they together with their residues give feeds to the animals. The pond is source of irrigation for the plants, principally rice and vegetables. It is a waterhole for wildlife for biological control. Because of its integrated structure and management. the farm itself becomes a balanced system. This is the key to sustainable production. This is ecological. farming.
4. Sloping agricultural land technology or SALT (Bohol) Call this natural farming even if the farm is a logged area. Precisely the idea is for the farmer to return the land to its natural state as much as possible. How does he do it? If one sees the model, the land has a grade of 20 to 40 degrees. The steeper the grade the more difficult it is to apply the system. Over and above 45 degrees the model may not work at all.) Here the contour of the slope is marked and outlined so that the sole of the plow, so to speak, will be level at all times. The contours are spaced uniformly, and the rows which follow the contour are planted at interval of annual and permanent crops.
5. The idea is for the permanent crops like fruit trees and firewood trees to sandwich the annual crops like peanut, rice, corn vegetable. The herbage of, say ipil-ipil, is used as organic fertilizer. Neem tree is used for pesticide. Lantana is a natural pest repellant, so with Eucalyptus. Legume intercropping and crop rotation replenish the soil of Nitrogen.
6. Modified models (rice and corn areas). Rice farming can be modified to suit the conditions of natural farming. There are farms today that rely entirely on homemade or commercial organic fertilizers. These are contracted farms to supply organically grown rice.
An equally important aspect of successful farming is cleanliness. This means no weeds, trimmed waterways, properly disposed farm wastes, efficient drainage, well arranged rows, properly scheduled farming activities, and the like. All this requires but low technology that is also affordable, and contributes to good health to both producer and consumer, and the whole community.
Genetically resistant varieties are chosen. Proper time of planting and harvesting is needed. We should know that clean farms, healthy plants and good management, are basic. What we are saying is that the use of chemicals is dispensable. To a single farmer, this is easier said than done. There is a need for collective and community effort, in which case farming , especially if it intends to shift to organic, likewise becomes more efficient as cost of production can be brought down.
Coconut farms (Southern Tagalog and Bicol). Seldom do we hear of coconut cultivation that follows the agronomic practices of other major crops like sugar cane or corn.
Perhaps there is no plant more resistant than coconut. It is because it perfectly fits our soil, climate and latitude. It is indigenous to us. In fact it evolved with our islands and our culture. Evolutionarily and historically what I am saying is that natural farming is not new. And more importantly, it is a product of long years of development. It is not just acclimatization. It is co-evolution.
The message is that let us explore the richness of our biodiversity and our culture as a people to be able to understand the working of nature. Nature shows us the way. Nature, the way our ancestors knew then, is the nature we know today, except that we have embraced many changes in farming as well as in life style. Many of these changes had not passed the test of time.
In Laguna and Quezon, coconut is the dominant species of an ecosystem. The presence of man in the ecosystem has modified it to suit to his needs. For example, he has chosen only the trees and plants that grow between the coconut trees. Unknowingly he raises animals, which reduce the richness of plant species diversity.
We still see around well-established, stable coconut areas where man's intervention is kept low, but my fear is the current practice of logging old coconut trees for lumber.
Natural farming then is important as a way of farming. It is also important in sustaining economic production, and above all, the continuity of our ecosystems that we have placed in our hands. Given these premises the farmer today faces a new challenge worthy of the title, "the backbone of the nation." ~
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LESSON on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio 738 DZRB AM, [www.pbs.gov.ph] 8-9 evening class Monday to Friday
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