Restoring damaged soil structure in farmlands and slowing rate of water movement...
Turn a major developing problem into a valuable resource and strengthen the economy and region as a great leader.
Davao City Catchment Area contains 8 rivers and an area of 236,124 hectares (2,361 km2).
If in 1 hour, 10 mm of rain falls over the entire region which is unable to soak into the ground and becomes runoff, this calculates to 23.6 billion liters of water or 46,000,000 full size bathtubs full of water.
In a tropical rain event it is possible for very heavy widespread rain, and much more than 10 mm runoff in an hour.
(Every 1 mm of rainfall on 1 square metre is 1 litre of water.)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia :
The Davao River catchment is the third largest river catchment on the southern Philippines island of Mindanao. It drains an area of over 1,700 square kilometres (660 sq mi) with a river length of 160 kilometres (99 mi). Most of the area is uplands. Average flows within the river near to the mouth are estimated at 70 to 80 cubic metres per second (2,500 to 2,800 cu ft/s). The climate type is relatively uniform throughout the year with evenly distributed rainfall and temperatures and humidity (rainfall = 2600mm, Actual Evap 1028mm).
Talomo River: Erosion is silting up the rivers, killing their life and restricting their natural flow.
Near the Davao River Mouth: Millions of tonnes of soil going out to sea. Flooding is a major concern.
ARROWS A & B:
Erosion of river bank, now in river, restricting flow, adding to silting, harming natural water life, plus the loss of topsoil.
ARROWS C & D:
Heavy discoloration of water with millions of tonnes of topsoil passing through this area every year, lost forever to the sea, never to be a valuable productive resource again.
ARROW E:
Expensive and unsightly concrete walls are being built along the river banks to help solve the problem, but is it the right approach?
Locals can not access the river easily anymore.
Natural banks helped to filter the water quality.
Fish and other water life have lost their natural habitat.
ARROW F:
A local who was a fisherman says the fish have died off, that there used to be until very recently quite large fish to catch and now there are very few and most are small.
Their habitat has died off from the farm chemicals washed into the water, the excessive silting and the loss of habitat as the river banks are concreted, including the lack of natural filtration of the water caused by the concreting of the banks.
OTHER:
The Davao River is now suffering great pollution issues including how amounts of E. coli and recently Polio.
Davao River, Bolton Bridge flowing out to sea, showing the surrounding area experiencing regular flooding threats.
Davao River, Bolton Bridge looking upstream prior to the recent concrete walling project, an attempt to reduce the risk of floodings.
Agricultural areas of the Davao Region represent around half of the region.
Maps below indicate erosion and landslides as major concerns for this region, as is the growing issue of flooding now in the urban Davao City area.
By increasing the soil permeability in this region erosion, landslips and flood risk will all reduce, increasing the security and economy of the area.
Turning a major developing problem into a great positive...
BACKGROUND CAUSE
In recent times Davao City has been experiencing increased flooding.
This is costing the city in damages, lost production and sadly people's lives are being lost too.
As the city grows there will be more and more runoff from hard surfaces.
Water must be slowed or trapped or channelled away efficiently to help prevent flooding.
This is an expensive exercise for the city, but ways must be considered.
However, that the increased commercial farmland is the biggest issue.
Most farmland soils are becoming damaged through the commercial farming practices.
As dense vegetation is converted to mono-crops, rainfall will become surface water quicker.
The majority use synthetic chemicals, heavy tillage and neglect the importance of organic matter left to cover the soil surface.
Soil structure becomes closed at shallow levels and suddenly, in the tropical heavy downpours, there is masses of runoff.
Water builds up speed and volume and erodes the exposed topsoil and this goes rapidly into the water ways.
Suddenly there are bigger floods and they are more regular, more powerful and damaging.
The situation is a very real concern and the problem is added to as the waterways become silted up by the excess erosion.
Concreting of riverbanks has been an approach to help solve the problem however this is very expensive.
SOLVING POTENTIAL DISASTER
We propose two approaches to be used simultaneously, both work to slow water movement very successfully.
The first is GROWERS GOLD , an organic solution that is sprayed onto soils and works very effectively to resuscitate dying soils.
The second is SWALES & DESIGN which are earth banks built horizontally along contour lines of sloping land, trapping the decent of water.
1) GROWERS GOLD the soil resuscitation tool...
GROWERS GOLD , an organic solution that is sprayed onto soils and works very effectively to resuscitate dying soils.
GROWERS GOLD is a cheaper way to grow, yet it is more productive, in the short term and especially in the long term.
Industrial synthetic chemical farming is based on petrol-chemicals and destroys the land because it destroys soil life vital for soil health.
The word "cide" actually means to deliberately kill and they use herbicides, pesticides and fungicides, all which kill all important soil life too.
This soil life it is killing is natural, misunderstood and very important to the soils correct functioning.
This life performs the 3 vital tasks of making the correct nutrition available to plants, restoring and building soil structure and preventing diseases.
GROWERS GOLD, by opening soil structure up, allows water to permeate deeply into soil and prevents high amounts of runoff from occurring.
Water is a very valuable resource. Water is life! Water in the highlands is even more valuable because it then feeds all that is below.
By re-opening the closed off soils GROWERS GOLD helps solve big problems while increasing wealth through utilizing valuable resources.
"The Clean Green Organic Tropical Capital"
With good leadership and clearer understanding, all farms in the Davao City Catchment Area could be moved to be organic and be rich in abundance.
Quality organic tropical produce will command higher prices and stronger demand overseas and Davao could be the hub of great commerce.
Davao is already moving towards being seen as green however the special advantage in sales would be for the whole region to be only organic.
Then all the produce sold from this region has a distinct marketing advantage and will command a premium overseas price.
There is an excellent opportunity to turn a fast growing negative and dangerous situation into a great positive.
Easy and Effective
GROWERS GOLD naturally restores soil structure and improves water permeability into soils without much work at all.
Simply spraying it onto the soil surface begins the process of soil resuscitation, where soon the soils will be able to breath again.
More organic matter on the soil surface is also encouraged and this is an easy shift for farmers to make.
Yields will often increase immediately, and over the long term, GROWERS GOLD with certainty, much more productive.
The use of synthetics is damaging to the soils and farms begin to collapse over time, whereas GROWERS GOLD builds the soil more and more.
The People's Vote
Great leadership in this simple but powerful transformation would be rewarded for the foresight it shows.
The city and its people face a problem few know how to correct.
We propose to turn this situation into a great positive, this will be seen as a genius act by the people.
An education program can be simple and powerful, growers are called into their barangays and can watch a presentation on TV.
It is safe, much more affordable and very easy to learn correct application of GROWERS GOLD soil resuscitator.
Farms who do not wish to switch over to organic straight away could be charged a pollution and water tax on every synthetic chemical they use.
This tax will then go towards supporting the simple transition towards great organic success for the region.
Most growers will straight away see the advantages of switching over and could do immediately, once they know about this program.
When the region unites it will be a very positive experience for all and the spirits of the people will be lifted greatly.
Davao can be marketed internationally for its exotic beauty and for the highest quality tropical produce available!
2) SWALES & DESIGN Earth banks slowing water's decent...
Slowing surface water movement is very important in tropical environments where heavy downpours can frequent.
Once volumes of water build up travelling over soil surfaces, particularly on slopes, great erosion can occur.
This causes many problems downstream while there is loss of valuable topsoil locally and farming potential locally.
Swales trap the waters decent and gives it much more time to soak into the soil.
This water then feeds all the soil below with clean spring water and alike.
Crops grow for a lot longer in dryer times before they are affected in any way.
This helps in stabilizing incomes of growers and alike and the economy of the area which is heavily involved in agriculture.
Swales are easy to build, just follow the contour lines using a level created with a clear plastic hose/tube containing water.
IMPORTANT POINTS:
Reduced flooding risk adds certainty to the region which adds value to the land and all its operations.
Water is a valuable resource as is soil, sunlight and heat...all can be converted into a wealthy organic tropical growing region.
With great leadership, resolution of the flooding and loss of soil in the region can be solved and , in its place, great prosperity can flourish.
Solving Soil Structure issues + helping growers get ahead...
Safe to use and easy to apply.
Restores soil health.
Improves plant health.
Resolves/much fewer growing issues.
Improved growth and yield.
Better tasting, healthier, more nutrient dense produce.
Higher market price, (organic) and more demand.
Can regenerate farms and helps the environment.
Better future for growers and improved farmer health.
Boost the economy with more produce and at a higher value.
Please watch this excellent VIDEO explaining how GROWERS GOLD works & the benefits...
All growers can improve their soil hydrology by re-introducing healthy soil biology with GROWERS GOLD. The soil biology work to open up soil structures naturally and efficiently without any side-effects. In conjunction keep as much organic matter on your soil surface as possible to help feed the soil biology and protect the soil from the weather and weeds etc. As organic matter enters the soil through the action of the soil life, your soil will steadily increase in Soil Organic Matter (SOM) too. SOM also helps with soil structure, not to mention added nutrients and soil water holding capacity.
GROWERS GOLD will help increase soil moisture storage capacity in the soil so less irrigation required saving on valuable resources.
GROWERS GOLD fixes the soil structure very effectively through the work of the micro-life returned to your soil.
Apply GROWERS GOLD and encourage organic matter on soil surfaces to help the micro-biology to flourish creating many benefits.
Compacted soil is unhealthy soil. Signs are poor permeability and poor growth.
Poor growth comes from restricted roots, poor plant nutrition and growing issues.
Soil can easily be tested with a steel rod being pushed into the soil to show increases in resistance.
An open soil structure effectively increases your farm by multitudes in available nutrition and moisture.
This can be easily be recreated by applying GROWERS GOLD, the soil resuscitator and increasing organic matter mulch.
Below is an actual test result of the effectiveness of GROWERS GOLD in restoring very poor soil conditions within 18 months with applications every few months and keeping organic matter available as mulch on the soil surface...
The photo below shows a soil that has been resuscitated back to health with GROWERS GOLD, showing many positive indications of health. Previously this soil was hard, heavy and unworkable, conditions brought about by use of synthetic chemicals and too much tillage...
This method is literally a life-saver, in most climate zones--both for conserving water, but also in wet climate, to redirect water safely. let's bring New Life to Earth!
Soil structure test showing the difference between damaged soil structure and healthy soil structure with water infiltration and runoff/erosion.
This explains why so many of our rivers are silted up with top soils and our farm soils are now so unhealthy.
GROWERS GOLD can help repair soil structure quickly.
Another great soil test showing the differences between healthy and unhealthy soil.
Microbial soil life plays an important role clumping soil together to build soil structure. Soil structure is critical for good plant health and performance.
GROWERS GOLD helps restore soil structure quickly.
Swales will slow the water from moving down the slopes and help with soakage into the soils plus contributing natural springs This is also a natural filtration process for the water And dry times growers will experience much better growth for long period of time This builds reliability of income and production for the agriculture sector of Davao region and adds value to the area as jobs become more secure and farms more valuable with the stronger income. This is a whole system approach rather than a segregated bits and pieces bandage style approach.
SWALES Earthbanks slowing water's descent...
Slowing surface water movement is very important in tropical environments where heavy downpours can frequent.
Once volumes of water build up travelling over soil surfaces, particularly on slopes, great erosion can occur.
This causes many problems downstream while there is loss of valuable topsoil locally and farming potential locally.
Swales trap the waters descent and gives it much more time to soak into the soil.
This water then feeds all the soil below with clean spring water and alike.
Crops grow for a lot longer in dryer times before they are affected in any way.
This helps in stabilizing incomes of growers and alike and the economy of the area which is heavily involved in agriculture.
Swales are easy to build, just follow the contour lines using a level created with a clear plastic hose/tube containing water.
Swales are very effective at slowing down water runoff and trapping this water so it has time to soak into the ground. This reduces erosion saving our topsoil and rejuvenates groundwater supply. Growing seasons can be extended considerably through the use of swales. They are without a doubt a very valuable part of the design of a good growing system that also ultimately reduce the work required by the grower to achieve their objective.
A number of different ideas for Davao City & Beyond, click button...