Mr. Cyril Cattiling, who owns a six hectare cassava farm, smiles when talking about the way he produces cassava. One secret, he agreed to share, is giving his TLC or tender loving care. He believes that with TLC, he and his fellow farmers can harvest bountiful cassava in Alfonso Lista, Ifugao.

A proud father and husband, Mr. Cattiling is a hands-on cassava grower. He is also the president of Ifugao Tapioca Growers Association (ITGA) and farm manager of YAO JIA XI Corporation which deals cassava granules to the San Miguel Corporation (SMC).
The ITGA started in 2015 to organize all cassava growers in the municipality. It is composed of 75 members. Meanwhile, the YAO JIA XI, a farming corporation, gives planting materials and shares technology to farmers who are members of ITGA.

The ITGA sells dried and granulated cassava to YAO JIA XI Corporation which then sells to SMC, a consistent buyer of the corporation. Using solar dryer and granulator for their cassava, the ITGA produces 250 to 300 granulated bags which SMC buys for P 970 per kilo.

Cassava granules bought by SMC are transferred to their feed processing center in BMEG Isabela. SMC sees to it that their protocols are followed. Cassava must not be fibrous and with only 3% dust. Unlike corn, granulated cassavas are not easily rotten if watered because cassava doesn’t have oil content.

There are two kinds of cassava varieties grown by ITGA: the KU50 variety and the Golden Yellow variety. Both varieties are for industrial purposes. The KU50 is for feeds while Golden Yellow is for human food. According to Mr. Cattiling, it takes one year to plant a KU50 variety while it only takes seven months for the Golden Yellow variety to be fully grown for food consumption.

Cassava as a profitable business

Farming has always been Mr. Cattiling’s main source of income. He started cassava production in 2012 when he shifted from corn farming to cassava production.

Just like him, Ifugao farmers were once corn growers. But because of the high production cost of corn, some of them diversified to cassava production. Cassava has better economic benefits.

“Cassava offers better income compared to corn” said Mr. Cattiling, even though cassava is harvested once a year. One hectare of corn earns him P 25,000 while cassava gives P 130,000 per hectare with P 30, 000 capital. With good land preparation and available market, cassava can be profitable.

A big change

Before, manual harvesting of cassava requires 30 laborers to harvest one hectare. It is a major problem because of labor shortage in the municipality. People have their own farms to tend. There is difficulty to find laborers who are willing to be paid P 200 to do the work. With labor shortage in their municipality, the cassava digger is such a huge help in the farm and to the laborers as well.

The ACT (Machineries and MetalCraft) Corporation is the partner of the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech) in the development of the cassava digger. In 2014, Mr. Cattiling was in a Corn Congress in Tagaytay when he saw the digger. He liked the performance of the machine. The ACT introduced the machine to him and set a date for a demo. According to Mr. Cattiling, his partnership with ACT started even before he became a member of the YAO XIA JIZ Corporation. Mr. Cattiling recalled when he was still managing his own farm, he bought machine parts from ACT.

Mr. Cattiling admitted that a lot has changed since he used the digger. It lessened the number of labor as well as the days of harvesting cassava. Before it takes 30 laborers to harvest cassava. It also takes two to three days to harvest a one hectare farm of cassava. With the cassava digger, it only takes four hours of harvest.

“..With cassava digger, 15 laborers pwede na in one hectare. Tsaka hindi na tulad ng dati na mag eexert sila ng effort at mapapagod talaga sa pag bubunot, kasi ngayon pupulutin nalang nila to gather tsaka idedetach.” Mr. Cattiling explained.

Aside from owning a six hectare farm, Mr. Cattiling also manages 100 hectare farm rented by YAO JIA XI Corporation from the Ifugao State University for cassava production. According to Mr. Cattiling, with the cassava digger performing the major works, digging a 100 hectare cassava farm, is a lot easier and faster.

The income from the rented farm is being used for their social corporate responsibility. They give school supplies and IT materials to daycare centers and elementary schools. Cassava and dragon fruits are the main products of the farm.

Best practices

Mr. Cattiling advised that farmers should follow proper machine operation and good land preparation for a bountiful cassava harvest. The maintenance of the machine is easy, so Mr. Cattiling suggested that farmers follow instructions well.

He is really thankful to PHilMech for being able to share this kind of cassava technology. “It is such a huge help not only for me but also to the laborers. For other growers out there who want to use this kind of machine, you must really try it. It’s really convenient. To see is to believe.” he added.

What’s the secret of success in cassava farming?

Mr. Cattiling believes that achieving success is not an overnight process. Handling a six hectare farm is not easy especially in their municipality which has labor shortage. “You just have to be patient and caring when it comes to your crops. You must also be hands-on to your farm and know exactly what your laborers are doing.”

Mr. Cattiling believes that growing cassava with TLC and proper technology like the cassava digger are the reasons behind cassavas’ bountiful harvest.