(A group of journalist Fellows coming from other countries and granted a break from their Fellows work visited La Trinidad, Benguet and Baguio last week, while waiting for their co-Fellow Daily Laborer who made a trip to Laguna. Hereunder, after Daily Laborer’s report in Laguna, is the Fellows observation regarding Baguio as tourist destination).
LOS BANOS, Laguna —Improper application of fertilizer in rice farmlands – either in highland or lowland rice growing areas – results in heavy losses for farmers, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) stated.
Less than half of the vital nitrogen fertilizers applied to rice the traditional way is actually used up by the crop. The rest –roughly 60 per cent – either goes to waste as ammonia gas or is temporarily immobilized in the soil.
Such tremendous waste, traced to improper application, was underscored recently by scientist at IRRI in Los Banos, Laguna, to a chosen group of visiting veteran news reporters and correspondents completing a 2-years journalism Fellows grants that is funded by a well-known international news organization.
Through the broadcast application for example, nitrogen losses from hectare fertilized with 90 kilograms of either urea or ammonium sulphate range from 5.8 per cent during the first eleven days after treatment.
However, through deep placement – by wrapping fertilizer in mud balls and burying these 10-12 centimeters deep in the soil between alternate hills – nitrogen losses come up to less than 1% (0.25%) or roughly 2.3 kilograms of the 90 kilograms applied.
Here, no volatile ammonia losses were observed above the natural background level, the IRRI savants explained.
Clearly, the IRRI scientist said, deep placement and thorough incorporation of nitrogen fertilizers minimize nitrogen losses and increase nitrogen use, efficiently.
Effectivity of deep placement was best shown by the IRRI scientists. Mean yield, for example, from an irrigated hectare planted to IR26 and IR36 rice varieties and treated with 56 kilograms of nitrogen (equivalent to two bags of urea and one bag ammosul) in mudballs, reached 5.7 tons, compare with 4.5 tons from plots where urea was applied the split way and 3.3 tons from plots without fertilizer.
The tests showed that that not all of the 60 % unaccounted for nitrogen were lost. Some were instead, temporarily mobilized in the soil for use by the next crop.
In 10 types of local soils studied, (soil coming from Cordillera upland rice areas was included) the amount of nitrogen fixed (reserved from release as the soil microorganisms please) ranged from 3.6% to 27% of the freshly added nitrogen. Some soils, by its nature, immobilize more nitrogen than the others.
IRRI savants measured the nitrogen suppling power of eight types of soil by subjecting these to continuous submergence and soil drying between crops during four cropping cycles.
They found that rice plants had the highest nitrogen uptake from clay loam like the Maakas clay or Paete, capable of immobilizing as much as 15% of the added nitrogen, making it unavailable for plant use.
IRRI researchers also proved that ammonium-producing fertilizers broadcast on the surface of flooded fields may lose some of their nitrogen as ammonia gas. In effect, this is what the researchers found: the higher the soil pH (a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of the soil in a scale of 14), enhanced during hot and windy days, the higher is the nitrogen loss as ammonia gas.
Soils registering pH’s above 7 are likely to be alkaline and those with pH below 7 are most likely to be acidic.
A study of ammonia losses from three flooded types of soil showed that losses are lower in acidic soils. Those with pH 5-7 may register only less than 10 kilograms of nitrogen loss out of 100 kgs. N (about 10 bags of ammonium sulphate) applied when measured 15 days from application.
Soils with higher pH (like pH 8.6) such as sodic soil may lose up to 40 kg. N/hectare for the same period.
These findings underscore the need to educate Filipino farmers on the proper application of nitrogen fertilizers. Last year, the Philippines imported 2.17 million metric tons of fertilizer, amounting to US$1.26 billion.
To lose half of imported fertilizer through improper application is tantamount to criminal waste.
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On another front, the consolidated report of the observations of visiting Fellows about Baguio and written by Daily Laborer.
Baguio Continues to Draw Tourists Despite Challenging Times
BAGUIO CITY – This upland city is proving anew that it is still the “tourism capital north of the Philippines” and will continue to be the case unless unseated at the helm by other provinces or cities, according to an observation by a group of journalists.
Shaeffer Jannafell, from Australia, and speaking on behalf of the group, said local and foreign visitors will continue to arrive in this city despite problems being encountered. Baguio has proven itself as a top destination, edging out other areas.
As a result, the local tourist trade is expanding, in contrast to the cries of woe being heard from other counterparts in Metro Manila and elsewhere in the country, the group noted.
Also doing mental jig in glee is the city government, which has come to depend on o the tourism trade as among the pillars of its revenues.
If there is slack in tourism arrivals to the country, it is not happening in the city as the City Tourism Office estimated 400,00 to 500,000 visitors slipped into the city last December, as compared to the 100,000 – 150,000 visitors the previous months.
Majority of visitors were local tourists or those who came from the Luzon lowlands. Foreign tourists led by those from Hong Kong, the US, Japan and Southeast Asian countries followed in the order, the group noted.
The journalist group projected Baguio will “become a deeply-tourism dependent city” in the years ahead, or in other words, “catering to local and foreign visitors will be one of its main source of livelihood,” Jannafell stated.
Such is happening already, Jannafell pointed out, with most residents “tourism oriented as seen through the tapping of students, particularly Criminology students as traffic aides, guides, crews of first aid stations and volunteer firemen during peak season.”
“Other students are seen assigned in strategic places in the city help both local and foreign tourists who need information on how to get at certain tourism spots,” Jannafell further observed.
Aside from helping direct vehicular traffic, student-interns have also been helpful to the police, the journalists said, particularly in the spotting of pickpockets and other petty racketeers preying on visitors.
However, it is not all sunshine that Baguio gets from its tourism trade. There is also the seamier side and the police admit that the influx of “unwanted” persons is a throbbing headache.
Another is prostitution, described by the police as a “serious” problem. Many of the practitioners of this oldest profession in the world come from outside of the city and trailing in their wake are pimps who concoct all sorts of scams to victimize both residents and visitors.
Another headache of the police is the jobless from the North Luzon lowlands who flock to the city during peak tourist season in hopes of finding employment, but the majority of them end up being picked up as vagrants and the police helping shell out money as bus fare for them to return home.
Drug abuse, conceived as a “fad,” by foreign visitors has affected residents and the youth to some degree, according to the police.
Complaints are incessantly heard from city residents. They howl against exorbitant prices whose tags are further jacked up when tourists arrive in droves.
Residents likewise beef against lack of potable water during peak tourist season. They ask why such amenity is readily made available to tourists who stay in expensive hotels, and not to them.
Such local irritability goes beyond lack of water. Residents howl against traffic snarls, heavy crowds and their environment and such antagonism is often directed to the presence of tourists.
The journalist also sat down with the more articulate residents who voiced their opinion that an honest-to-goodness study be conducted to determine whether the tourism industry is indeed beneficial to the welfare of residents or otherwise.
