'He has a unique way of producing basi and vinegar'

The enhanced practice of planting sugarcane

By Reynaldo E. Andres

Mariano Marcos State University

       

LAOAG City—Since the day basi, that legendary native wine of the Ilocanos, became the one-town-one-product (OTOP) of this city, Virgilio Gaudia, 56, of Brgy. Bacsil decided to shift to sugarcane as his main crop.

His first problem was how to increase his harvest of quality sugarcane juice in order to cope with the increasing demand of basi and sukang Iluko (Ilocos vinegar) from wine traders and tourists coming in the province.

But when he heard about the program of the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) assisting science and technology-based farms (STBF) of farmers in the province, Mr. Gaudia immediately sought the assistance of the university through Dr. Marivic Alimbuyuguen, then director of the university extension services, and offered his farms for a demonstration project on sugarcane production.

Immediately, the manpower of the university extension services visited his farm to set up the project. But before the start of his STBF, other sugarcane farmers in Bacsil were hesitant to believe whether the new interventions would bring change in the yield and quality of their produce. But when they saw the result of the technology interventions that Mr. Gaudia followed, they were convinced to follow the technology in their next cropping season.

One impressive result of the technology intervention is the improved and unique taste and color of the basi and vinegar that were produced, thus, making the two products of Brgy. Bacsil incomparable with those produced in other provinces.

How the STBF was carried out

MR. Gaudia’s farm was divided into two—each measured 1,628 square meters. The first was used to showcase the traditional practices on sugarcane production. This was called the farmers’ practice. The other was used to showcase the technology intervention that was recommended by experts from MMSU. This was called the enhanced practice.

Mr. Gaudia’s STBFs were established in December 2013. In Ilocos Norte and some areas of Region 1, sugarcane production usually starts in December until January the succeeding year. The farms were prepared in the conventional plowing and harrowing methods. Both were plowed at a depth of 20 cm.

In the farmer’s practice, Mr. Gaudia used the Yellow Java variety which is the traditional variety that farmers at Brgy. Bacsil are using. But in the enhanced practice, he planted the VMC86-550 and VMC87-559 varieties which are being recommended by MMSU experts.

In the enhanced practice, Mr. Gaudia changed the traditional planting distance between the plants. Instead of 0.6 meters, he set a 1.5-meter distance in between the rows, 0.5 meters in between double rows, and 20 cm between hills.

In the farmers’ practice, Mr. Gaudia applied one-half bags of 21-0-0 as basal. At 2 – 3 months after transplanting, he side-dressed the plants with the same amount of fertilizer. 

However, in the enhanced practice, he applied a mixture of 30 bags of processed chicken manure (PCM), 18 kilos of complete fertilizer (14-14-14), 36 kilos of 16-20-0, and 4 kilos of muriate of potash (0-0-60) as basal. Then, at 2 – 3 months after planting, he side-dressed 37 kilos of Urea. Thus, the soil fertility was enhanced and the plants became robust.

In irrigating the plants, Mr. Gaudia followed the conventional practices to both farms. This means using only two liters of water per hill. He harvested the canes of both farms at 8 – 12 months after planting.

Basi production

To showcase the difference between the old and new methods of postharvest practices, Mr. Gaudia followed two contrasting ways of crushing the sugarcane. Canes in the farmers’ practice, were crushed using the traditional wooden equipment locally called dadapilan. This was driven by a carabao. But in the enhanced practice, the canes were crushed using a crushing machine, which was faster and produced cleaner juice.

Virgilio Gaudia as he prepares the juice for fermentation

After 2½ minutes of boiling the extracted juice, he put them in a clay jar called burnay. Still, he followed two contrasting ways of fermenting the juice to make it basi and vinegar. Juice derived from the farmers’ practice were mixed with 2 kilos each of dried leaves, bark and fruits of the samak tree. But in the enhanced practice, he used the same amount of materials, but he added in each jar one gallon of Iluko vinegar and 200 grams of dried yeast. These additional ingredients hastened the fermentation of the juice. To avoid aeration, Mr. Gaudia sealed the jars with plastic cellophane, instead of the conventional banana leaves.

After three days, he opened the jars and stirred the juice. Mr. Gaudia has proven that he can harvest the basi in just six months instead of the traditional seven months in the farmers’ practice. Also, basi and vinegar in the enhanced practice are more delicious than in the farmers’ practice.

Production and profit

MR. Gaudia found out that canes from the enhanced practice yielded more juice after the second and third production cycles. After the second cycle, he harvested 3,088 liters of juice from the farmers’ practice, while in the enhanced practice, he harvested 4,080 liters.

Virgilio Gaudia crushes the canes from the enhanced practice using a machine crusher

Since he produced low class basi and vinegar from the farmers’ practice, he only earned P350 per jar which contained 19 liters, or a total gross of P57,050 from the 163 jars he fermented. In contrast, Mr. Gaudia earned P143,055 gross from the enhanced practice, or a difference of P85,915.

Virgilio Gaudia's organic basi production at Brgy. Bacsil, Laoag City

In the third production cycle, Mr. Gaudia still had big production output. He harvested 3,856 liters of juice from the enhanced practice. When they were made into basi and vinegar, he grossed P142,800. In the farmers’ practice, he just earned a gross of P134,960 from the 2,640 liters he harvested or a difference of P86,328.

Deducting all that he spent in the second production cycle, he got a net profit of P54,833 from the farmers’ practice, while he got P107,357 from the enhanced practice. After the third cycle, he still got a very high profit from the ratoon crops. He got P45,668 from the farmers’ practice, while in the enhanced practice, he got P67,524.