There were three studies conducted in the fourth year of the project: (1) the adaptability and consumers preference for pak-choi, (2) the effects of vegetable farming on farmers’ income and employment, and (3) the income and job opportunities generated by post harvest vegetable activities in the expansion areas of Laguna, Batangas and Quezon.
Sensory tests for raw and cooked pak-choi (3 accessions) at CLSU and a survey of 30 FFS participants were conducted for Study 1. For study 2, 160 farmers were interviewed, while for study 3, 28 input suppliers and 130 vegetable traders provided the needed information through personal interview.
Based on the results, the native variety (Black behi) was still preferred by consumers than BP 21 and BP 22, while there was moderate acceptability of the new accessions (BP 21, BP 03, BP 29) in the Los Baños market. Farmers knew the benefits of the newly introduced technologies such as line sowing, use of net tunnels, raised bed, organic fertilization, and pest monitoring in pak-choi production, but they did not adopt them because of the additional capital and labor required.
Intensive pak-choi production system (5 pak-choi-2 rice crops/year) utilized higher labor per hectare than non-vegetable based production system (rice-fallow-rice-fallow) with 1,247 and 98 MD, respectively. It also generated higher income per hectare of Php220,135 as compared to Php40,219 of the latter system. Vegetable-based production system provided more labor opportunities for women and children because of the lighter farm activities such as transplanting, weeding and harvesting.
The variables that influenced yield of pak-choi were years of experience in vegetable farming, amount of nitrogen fertilizer applied, and number of hours utilized in transplanting. On the other hand, income was significantly affected by cost of chemicals, cost of labor (fertilization, spraying, weeding and watering), and the cost of gasoline and oil for pumps, irrigation fee, plastic bags and transport cost.
Pack-choi production would generate better income and employment opportunities to input suppliers and vegetable traders if production area would increase from 500 to 1000 ha in one season (May-June).
