Mr Agustin "Jun" Marcado, Jr

Jun Mercado is Research Manager at the World Agroforestry centre in Claveria. He facilitated the country’s first landcare initiative in 1996. His challenge was to help tackle the major soil erosion problem of farmers in Claveria, where soil losses of 50–300 tonnes per hectare every year were reducing farmers’ annual crop yields by 200–500 kilograms per hectare. Jun Mercado is Research Manager at the World Agroforestry centre in Claveria. He facilitated the country’s first landcare initiative in 1996.

His challenge was to help tackle the major soil erosion problem of farmers in Claveria, where soil losses of 50–300 tonnes per hectare every year were reducing farmers’ annual crop yields by 200–500 kilograms per hectare.

After 3 years of continuous cropping on sloping land, the farmers had to abandon their fields, cutting down more forests to sow their crops.

“First we tried using a double hedgerow of legumes to stop soil erosion. Then one of the local farmers accidentally left a strip of natural grass on their fields which allowed rainfall to filter through the grasses without washing the soil away. Using this system, annual soil losses can be reduced to as little as 2–4 tonnes per hectare.

When farmers plant trees in the strips, they improve both the productivity and biodiversity of their farms. Less soil erosion also means improved water quality downstream and less destruction of marine and coastal environments. “

Jun Mercado, with farmer Leo Castillo, grows fruit and timber trees in the natural vegetative strips on own his farm in Claveria, Misamis Oriental.