Two sequence cropping

Aggie Updates

Jennyline S. Tabangcura and May Flor P. Magciano   

The highlands of the Cordillera are noted for production of temperate vegetables which are marketed throughout the country. However, vegetable production in the area is not planned. Apparently, there is no production programming, sequence or pattern of cropping in relation to environmental factors, crop suitability, and economic considerations. These lead to failure of certain crops planed at a time they are not able to tolerate adverse weather conditions, under or over production of certain vegetables resulting to high fluctuation of prices, low yield due to improper cropping patterns and proliferation of pests.

Studies have been undertaken on vegetable cropping patterns but timing of cropping and economics of production have not been considered.

Generally, highland farmers follow a cropping system involving two primary vegetable crops grown in rotation, some practice monocropping for a long period, while others just plant vegetable as they wish. These have negative effects on farm productivity, market supply, and price stability.

Various vegetables such as broccoli, bell pepper, cabbage, carrot, and lettuce were grown in succession for the study titled, “Profitability of Vegetable Succession Cropping Schemes,” under the project Development of Market-Oriented Cropping Schemes for Vegetable Crops by Dr. Percival B. Alipit of BSU-HoRTI office.

Vegetable cultivation in Benguet is profitable. The greatest net profit was derived from growing broccoli from October-December at Php525,883/ha followed by bell pepper from January-May at Php501,996/ha, carrot from November-March at Php417,526/ha, cabbage from Oct-Dec at Php360,818/ha, cabbage from December-February at Php147,082/ha and lettuce from September-Nov at Php87,436/ha.

Among the vegetables, high net margin (Php/Php invested) was obtained from growing bell pepper harvested in March to May at 2.66 and broccoli in December at 2.21 followed by carrot in March at 1.89, cabbage in December at 1.39, cabbage in February at 0.57, and lettuce in November at 0.52.

Land productivity in terms of net income derived from two cropping periods was greatest in broccoli-bell-pepper sequence at Php1,027,879/ha net profit followed by cabbage-carrot at Php778,344/ha, and lettuce-cabbage at Php234,578/ha.

The wholesale price index in September 2011-May 2012 was highest in bell pepper at Php25/kg followed by broccoli at Php20/kg, carrot at Php15/kg, cabbage at Php12/kg, and lettuce at Php10/kg. These prices are two to three times lower than the prices last year.

Other observations in the study include the insects found infesting cabbage and broccolis were diamond-back moth, aphids and cabbage butterfly as well as leaf miner infesting lettuce.

Black rot, soft rot and clubroot disease infection were observed in cabbage and broccoli; bottom rot, cercospora leaf spot, and leaf spot, and leaf blight in lettuce; cercospora leaf spot and fruit rot in bell pepper; and powdery mildew and root rot in carrot.

Effective insecticides and fungicides were used to control the pests side by side with proper cultural practices to insure successful crops.There were no allelopathy problems noted on the vegetables grown in succession.

Search or development of resistant varieties is vital in pest management due to high incidence of insects and diseases affecting crops – apart from practicing integrated pest control approaches, was the recommendation of the researcher.

Other recommendations include stopping unreasonable importation and smuggling of vegetables, operationalize vegetable crop zoning and cropping schemes considering crop suitability on the principle of comparative advantage to regular supply based on demand, enforce proper grading, standardization and packaging of locally produced vegetable to obtain reasonable worth of the commodity, and establish a price agreement approach for vegetables in market outlets.

The prices of vegetables follow the law of supply and demand. The process of temperate vegetables is comparatively lower on account of expansion of cultivation in the highlands and several temperate vegetables are now being grown in several places in the country and as such these calls for regulation in cultivation and vegetable zoning should also be in place.--  ( Jennyline S. Tabangcura and May Flor P. Magciano are staff of the Benguet State University)