Cebu Highlands: some notes on the agricultural practices and beautiful landscape

By Dr. Luz Geneston Asio

Department of Agronomy, Visayas State University

The highlands in the middle of Cebu which extends from the city in the east to Balamban/Asturias in the west presents a beautiful mixture of protected landscapes with good secondary forest cover, and crop production systems consisting of orchard particularly mango, annual crops, vegetables and cut flowers. 

Beautiful views of the Cebu Highlands

The very beautiful scenery reminds visitors of Baguio City or some foreign places like Indonesia or Taiwan. Clearly observable even on distant undulating slopes are the mango trees which are adapted to the agroclimatic conditions of Cebu. 

Mango trees are abundant in certain parts of the landscape

Cebuanos are widely known to be corn eaters. This explains why corn is the most widely grown grain crop in the highlands. On red acidic soils from igneous rocks as well as on dark calcareous soils from limestone, nutrient deficiency symptoms (N, P) are clearly observable. But the crop is still able to produce a relatively good yield.

Large and small corn plantations are common in the highlands

On degraded limestone slopes on the western side close to Balamban, coconut plantations can be seen which are also showing nutrient deficiency symptoms most probably nitrogen and iron as indicated by the yellowing of leaves (plant analysis data from comparable lands in southern Leyte indeed revealed both nitrogen and iron deficiencies). 

Coconut plantations in the western side

But the most impressive crop production venture by the people in the highlands is the one which consists of cut flowers (e.g. Chrysanthemum) and vegetables (lettuce, cabbage, chayote, etc). The cut flowers are delivered to the city while the vegetables are sold in the city and in local stores along the highway. 

Stores selling the farm products are found along the highway

It must, however, be mentioned that although contour farming can be seen on some steep slopes, unsustainable cultivation practices can be clearly observed. The most obvious is the plowing or planting of crops along the slope (top to bottom orientation). This practice promotes soil erosion and loss of nutrients from the soil. This should be taken seriously as this could lead to severe soil erosion on the slopes accompanied by the siltation of the streams below. It could have a long-term impact on the water quality and quantity in the streams.

(Report was based on the fieldwork we conducted from July 31 to August 2, 2018. I thank Dr. Vic Asio for his ideas and Julian Cumad (MSc Soil Science student) for organizing our visit. All photos are owned by the author.