Utilization of organic based rice farming technologies among farmers in Aurora Province, Philippines

The study was conducted to determine the extent of use of organic-based rice farming technology and the influencing factors related to technology use in Aurora Province, Philippines. Sixty=three organic-based rice farmers from the five municipalities of Aurora were interviewed. snowball sampling was used in identifying the respondents and interview schedule was employed in data collection. The data gathered were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation, and multiple and stepwise regression. Organic rice farming has been the original type of farming practice in Aurora province. However, government policies and programs on the use of HYVs which imposed the massive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in rice farming made farmers resort to chemical-dependent farming system. The respondents revealed a good concept of organic farming. This was associated to the organic-based farming technologies that they were using such as compost application, green manuring, manual weeding, use of organic fertilizer/organic foliar spray, biological and botanical pest/disease management. They viewed organic-based rice farming as valuable in maintaining ecological balance, rejuvenating the fertility and sustaining good condition of the soil, producing rice-base on its natural environment which is safe to the ecosystem, safe guarding the health of farmers and consumers, and providing high quality grains and high income. However, majoity of the respondents (71.43%) claimed that the nutrient contents of organic fertilizers and compost were not sufficient which goaded them to combine organic and inorganic fertilizers in rice production. Also, the respondents preferred HYVs - Suer 60 and PSB Rc 18 during wet and dry seasons, respectively. In terms of yield attributes, most of the respondents (90.48%) experienced an increase in grain yield both in pure organic and combination rice farming. The others (87.3%) and 82.54%, respectively) claimed to have observed notable improvement in the physical appearance of grains and spikelets of the rice. The farmers perceived the five technology components as adequate in relative advantage, compatibility, high trialability, simplicity and observability. Only the use of organic fertilizer or organic foliar spray and compost application were related as having high relative advantage, very compatible, and highly observable. All the technology components were rated highly trialable and very simple. The average net income per hectare in pure organic rice farming was significantly lower by P1,046.93 during the wet season and P4,611.72 during dry season. On the other hand, mixed organic farming generated a per hectare net income of P4,132.99 and P12,659.00 for wet and dry season, respectively. The extent of used of organic-based farming technology was found moderate due to the relatively small area planted to organic rice, less quantity of organic fertilizer use and moderate number of organic technologies used. This may be attributed to the relatively low-organic farming experience and limited knowledge of the other technology components. Correlation analysis revealed 12 variables related to the use of organic-based rice farming technology. these were age, number of years in farming, membership in organization, number of projects or services, market support, trainings, educational tours, filled grain spikelets, perceived relative advantage, compatibility, simplicity and observability. The predictive variables which were revealed to influence the technology use were educational field tour, credit, market assistance, and compatibility of the technology. The respondents' identified strengths of organic-based rice farming were basically economic, environment, technology and social-related. Opportunities for massive organic-based rice farming technology utilization were perceived to be high. Among the threats identified were related to production of commercial organic fertilizers, government policies, position of organic-based farmers in the market, and possible outbreak of soil-borne diseases of animals and humans.