Maiah B.

Cheng Date Performed: September 18, 2018

AGRI 31 A-1L Date Finished: September 25, 2018
NARRATIVE REPORT
On September 18, 2018, our Crop Science 1 Laboratory visited the Learning Laboratory for
Agroforestry (LLA) on the Mt. Makiling which is being handle by the Institute of Agroforestry, College of
Forestry.
The general topography of the farm in the Agroforestry was at lower elevation and have gentle
slopes which is suitable for farming or crop production and Soil Water Conservation Measure. But
according to our lecturer in the Learning Laboratory for Agroforestry, due to the location of Los Baños,
Laguna which has a Type III climate, the situation of the Agroforestry learning laboratory has already been
changed and the topsoil was slowly eroded due to the natural disturbances or phenomenon such as typhoons,
and soil erosions in the said farm. Due to its eroding state, Agroforestry is critical for crop production and
soil and water conservation. However, LLA developed different Soil Water Conservation Measure to the
farm so that the damage of the erosion should not be that critical. And luckily, the farm doesn’t have any
indications of rills, gullies, turbid pressure run-off, exposed roots and parent material, and bare area but due
to the heavy rainfall these days, some of the SWCM has been damaged and the crop production were also
being affected.
Because of the topography of Agroforestry farm and its cropping system, it is described as an
upland farm which is rainfall dependent. So, the availability of water in the said farm is controlled by the
different water conservation measures to ensure that the different crops planted there received enough water
for their continuous growth.
While visiting the farm, we were being taught about the different SWCM (Soil Water Conservation
Measure) used in the said farm, and explained to us how these systems made, how they used, why they are
important and what are their respective functions for conserving and for crop production.
First, our lecturer discussed to us the 3 SWC or Soil and Water Conservation of Agroforestry
systems: Vegetative, Structural, and Vengineering. These 3 SWC were used to control the soil erosion of
the Agroforestry farm. Vegetative system uses plants to control the erosion such as alley cropping,
hedgerows, multi-storey system, and natural vegetative strips. Structural system used different man-made
structures while the vengineering system is the combination of vegetative which uses plants and structural
system that uses man-made structures.
We were first introduced to the Alley Cropping System under the vegetative. This system is a form
of agroforestry practice where hedgerows are planted along the contour and growing of agriculture crops
in the alleys formed between hedgerows. The hedgerows are planted to one or more rows of woody
perennials and are regularly pruned to prevent shading. For the additional information, farmers much
preferred to plant a leguminous plant because of their nitrogen fixing capabilities and their efficient tap root
system that help to reduce the soil erosion. Under this system, our lecturer also discussed the 4 SALT used
in the Agroforestry: the SALT I or Sloping Agricultural Land Technology, SALT II or Simple Agro-
Livestock Technology, SALT III or Sustainable Agro-forest Land Technology and SALT IV or Small
Agro-forest Livelihood Technology.
SALT I used trees and hedges plants to control erosion. These plants were planted along the contour
lines or the same land elevation in a slope area. The contour lines were being located with the used of an
instrument called “A-frame”. In this SALT system, the hedges were being cut and used as green manure
for the other plant and contributes nutrients to the soil. SALT II, on the other hand is also the same as the
SALT I, the only difference is just, SALT II used livestock animals and the hedges being cut served as food
for these animals and the manure of the animals were used as fertilizer for the plants.
The lecturer also added that the soil and water being eroded cannot all trap by the hedges plant, so
they also used structural systems such as contour and diversional canal, check dam and soil pits to divert
the surface run-off. These systems collect the depositing soil particles and after it is being collected, the
farmers will return the detached soil particles to the alley.
The check dam was located along the contour line and the diversional canal, which is made up of
bamboo sticks. It was used to check the velocity of water and to trap soil particles from run-offs. After the
check dam, the next structural system is the soil pit. The soil pit collects the soil deposited particles that the
check dam didn’t trap and return the deposited particles to the surface.
The next SALT we discussed is the SALT IV, which is used if the average slope of the land is
higher than 15%. This SALT system used different fruit trees or forest trees and some of the agricultural
crops is prohibited to plant in that kind of slope. But according to our lecturer, some agricultural crops can
also plant in that kind of slope with the help of the Soil Water Conservation Measure. The trees used served
as a cover to capture eroded soil and rainfall impact. It also reduces the liter fall on the forest floor.
We also introduced to the other structural systems used in the farm such as the rock wall and the
balabag system. Rock wall is only advisable to those places with abundant rocks because the rocks were
piled along the contours and it is not that easy to build. But this kind of system has disadvantages because
the plants didn’t receive any nutrients from the rocks and some insects and plant pests used rock wall as
their habitat. Another system is the balabag system, which uses wood as the barrier for the soil erosion.
This system was originated from Naalad, Cebu where farmers who used the “kaingin” system discovered
it. At the end of the fallow period or resting of the land, farmers cut the Ipil-ipil (Leucaena leucocephala)
branches and twigs but instead of burning the biomass as they do in shifting cultivation, they pile them
along the contours to form a fascine like structure locally known as balabag or babag, which help conserve
the soil.
Agroforestry also have a man-made bench terraces. This system was made and takes after the
famous Banaue rice terraces located in the Mt. Province. It is considered as the first SWCM introduced in
the Philippines to control soil erosion. It consists of building level or nearly level strips along contours at
appropriate intervals and the level strips are utilized as planting area and drainage for excess water in the
hillside. In this system, the forest was located at the top of the terraces with a running river on the middle
for the natural irrigation system and for the transferring of nutrients to the crops.
Another system used in the Agroforestry farm is what we called Fanya-juu which means “throw
the soil up”. The Fanya-juu terraces are constructed by throwing soil up slope from a ditch to form a bund
along a contour. The trench is 60 cm wide by 60 cm deep, and the bund 50 cm high by 150 cm across at the
base.
Agroforestry also has the SALT III or also known as multi-story agroforestry system. This SALT
is also liked the SALT IV, it uses multi-layer of fruit or forest trees which serves as a canopy. In this system,
every layer of the slope has different kind of trees planted while the agricultural crops planted at the lower
layer of the slope under the dominant and intermediate trees. The disadvantages of this SALT system is
that the agricultural or beneficial crops planted is only limited.
 After discussing the different SWCM used in Agroforestry, our Professor required us to trace the
contour line on a slope area. We used a measuring device called A-frame to locate it. And to start locating
the contour lines, our lecturer from Learning Laboratory for Agroforestry gave us a starting point to start
with. The one leg of the A-frame was placed to the marking of the starting point and the other leg was
placed to its opposite direction. When the bubble was already at the midpoint mark on the crossbar, it means
that the two legs of the A-frame were already at the same elevation and then, we putted a stick on the ground
below the other leg of the measuring device to serve as a marking and as a wedge that will hold the one leg
of an A-frame as it is being flipped forward. After putting a marking, we flipped the frame forward, so that
the two legs are reversed and mark the beam again. The one leg of the A-frame was kept on the ground as
we flipped the other leg of the frame to the new contour point.
After making 10 markings for the contour line, the slope was being computed by using the equation
below:
rise X 100
run
Table 01: Data gathered from the Contour Lines
Set- Slope Equivalent Percentage Set- Slope Equivalent Percentage
Up Up
1 82/316 0.2594936709 25.95% 6 78/305 0.2557377049 25.57%
2 86/341 0.2521994135 25.22% 7 78/301 0.2591362126 25.91%
3 81/330 0.2454545455 24.55% 8 77/320 0.240625 24.06%
4 86/356 0.2415730337 24.18% 9 83/330 0.2515151515 25.15%
5 80/327 0.244648318 24.46% 10 88/355 0.2478873239 24.79%
Average Percentage:
24.984%

Figure 01: Layout for the Contour Lines We Locate

 The recommendations of the soil and water conservation in the Learning laboratory for Agroforestry
we visited are as follows:
1. Improve more the structure of the different Soil Water Conservation Measure used in the farm.
2. Fix some of the structural systems used because it is already damage or much better make new
structural systems which is stronger and not easily destroyable by the soil erosion.

REFERENCES:
Agroforestry and Multipurpose Trees and Shrubs R&D Team. R&D status and directions (2000 and
beyond): Agroforestry and multipurpose trees and shrubs. Los Baños, Laguna: PCARRDDOST,
2003. 45p. Retrieved from: http://www.pcaarrd.dost.gov.ph/home/momentum/afin/resources/R&
D%20Status%20on%20Agroforestry%20and%20Multipurpose%20Trees%20and%20Shrubs.pdf.
Accessed on: September 25, 2018.
United Nations Environment Programme: Division of Technology, Industry and Economics (n.d.). Fanya-
juu Terracing. Retrieved from: http://www.unep.or.jp/ietc/Publications/TechPublications/Tech
Pub-8a/fanya.asp. Accessed on: September 25, 2018.
Velasco, N. (2016). Narrative Paper: Soil and Water Conservation and Management. Accessed on:
September 25, 2018