MANILA, Philippines — Government is expanding peanut farms in Cagayan Valley to 5,000 hectares and targeting a 43 percent increase in ouput of new protein-rich varieties promoted by the Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR.)

The bureau says the legume is deemed ideal for mitigating climate change since it has superior nitrogen-fixing properties.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Cagayan Valley Integrated Agricultural Research Center (CVIARC) are working to encourage more farmers to grow peanut and expand the present cultivation area of 3,500 hectares.

“We want to continue our support for peanut breeding and production because peanut remains to be a minor crop rather than a cash crop even if farmers have an opportunity to make money from it by replacing our big import volume,” BAR director Dr. Nicomedes P. Eleazar adds.

DA has been pushing peanut production since the legume has the ability to reduce the emission of greenhouse gas-emitting nitrous oxide from nitrogen.

It is also considered drought-resistant and its average irrigation water requirement ranges from four to 50 millimeters per application.

Legumes – peanut, mungbean, and soybean included – can capture nitrogen from the air, “fix” this into plant food, and thus make it a natural fertilizer to the plant.

CVIARC Peanut Project Leader Rose Mary G. Aquino said BAR's program involves breeding for improved peanut varieties. This also has a seed support component from the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry, Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD).

“We want to stabilize peanut production in Region 2, which has been erratic due farmers' shifting from planting peanut to yellow corn as a result of insufficient peanut seed supply during the planting season,” says Aquino.

The country imports between 30,000 metric tons (MT) and 50,000 MT of peanut yearly, mainly from China, to meet the demand that ranges from 60,000 MT and 70,000 MT.

BAR says the peanut project should revive Region 2's leadership in peanut production. Its peanut area was 22,000 hectares in the 1990s but the yield was very low at 0.65 MT per hectare.

“Region 2 was once a big peanut producer. But due to the low yield and therefore low income, farmers shifted to yellow corn,” a bureau report said.

Legumes in general are eyed by DA as poverty reduction crops.

When intercropped with corn or rice, legumes can raise land use efficiency and farmers’ incomea. At a production cost of P27,030, a farmer may earn a net income of P22,970 from a yield of 2,000 kilos per hectare based on a farmgate price of P25 a kilo.

The use of legumes will have a significant beneficial effect since it reduces stress on the soil, especially due to cropping intensity.

“Leguminous plants have a give-and-take (symbiotic) relationship with a (soil) bacteria called rhizobia that thrive in the plants’ root nodules. Rhizobia can supply about 225 kilos (4.5 bags) of nitrogen per hectare per year or equivalent to input cost of P4,500,” says Aquino.

Considered climate change-ready varieties of peanut are Namnama-1 or Philippine-registered NSIC Pn 11 and Namnama 2 or NSIC Pn 14. They have a pod yield from 2.2 MT to 2.6 MT per hectare. These are breeds shared by the India-based International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) to the Philippines.

Another ICRISAT variety is Asha, which means “hope,” with a pod yield of up to 3.1 MT per hectare. It is called a “3-in-1” variety because of its flexible size of Class A “export” quality (one gram per seed), Class B for domestic market, and Class C for planting and processing.

Legume growing also supports a climate change mitigation measure called “conservation agriculture” which reduces soil tillage. With reduced tillage, carbon is stored in soil rather than emitted to the air.

Aside from high protein content ranging from 26 percent to 28 percent, peanuts are rich in B vitamins, folate, niacin, and Vitamin E.

It has the good fat that helps remove cholesterol from blood, consequently helping reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer.

Peanut as a plant has other uses. Its hay is good fodder for livestock with its rich crude protein, better palatability compared to other fodder materials and digestibility.

“Peanut hay is a high-quality forage for cattle, carabao, horses,goat, sheep and rabbits,” adds Aquino.

The peanut protein cake residue from oil processing and extraction is also used as an animal feed.

Crops inter-planted with peanut usually have better performance even with low or no fertilizer application due to legumes' nitrogen-fixing capability.

This makes organic legume production possible.

In fact, peanut-white corn inter-cropping practices in Cagayan Valley involves organic farming. It does not use pesticide sprays or chemical fertilizers.