Ethnofarming Practices of Mandaya Ginger Farmers in Andap, New Bataan, Davao de Oro, Philippines

Abstract

The study aimed to determine the socio-demographic profile and document existing practices and problems related to ginger farmers' soil fertility, diseases, and insect pest management practices. Also, to analyze the agro-ecological situation using SWOT analysis. The enumerators conducted one-on-one interviews with the ginger farmers with participative field transects from November 2017 to June 2018 to identify the Ethnofarming practices of Mandaya ginger farmers with 44 key participants. The result shows that the majority of the ginger farmers are old (36%), male (80%), married (85%) with 5 to 6 children (32%), with more than 25 years of ginger farming experience (77%) in less than 0.25 hectare (50%), and have low educational attainment (48%). The Mandaya ginger farmers use soil color and texture, the presence of Ageratum conyzoides, and crop income from the previous cropping as indicators to identify fertile and infertile soils. Fewer Mandaya farmers still practice indigenous knowledge including magical, factual, and traditional practices on ginger production. Although most farmers use new technologies, some tend to combine their indigenous knowledge with new technologies for ginger farming. It has been identified that the Mandaya farmers had limited knowledge of controlling insect and disease infestations, soil fertility management, and commodity price fluctuation, which are significant constraints for them. Mandaya ginger farmers and government agencies are encouraged to develop technologies that will utilize their indigenous knowledge of ginger and other crops while promoting, preserving, and protecting their cultural identity anchored to a scientific way of farming to help attain food security and sustainability for the country.