Field Guide of Discovery-based Exercises for - Aseanipm ...

materials
• Office supplies (e.g., notebooks, pencils, ball pens, and marking pens);
• Field supplies (e.g., plastic trays and two spoon of sugar); and
• Other materials (e.g., garden soil and at least 8 potato stem cuttings).
methodology
• Field walks, simulation, and brainstorming
steps
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Field Guide of Discovery-based Exercises for Organic Vegetable Production
1. Divide big group into five small groups. Go to the field and observe organic potato crops that
were hilled-up and not hilled-up. Record all observations on crop stand, plant vigor, weed
growth, soil moisture condition, pest and disease occurrence, etc. Gather some garden soil and
potato stem cuttings.
2. Proceed to processing area and do simulation exercise. Each small group fills-up two plastic
trays with the same amount of soil. Cultivate soil and form two mini-plots per tray. Plant four
stem-cuttings per tray. To simulate organic fertilizer application, apply one spoon of compost
to soil in both trays. Simulate hilling-up operation in one of the trays by using spoon as grab
hoe. No hilling-up operation is done on the other tray. Put water to simulate irrigation in trays.
3. After the exercise, conduct participatory discussion in a big group to allow sharing of experiences
among participants and facilitators. Synthesize and summarize output of small groups into one
big group output. Draw up conclusions and recommendations from this exercise.
suggested questions for processing discussion
❏ What is hilling-up? When is the best time to do hilling-up?
❏ In simulation exercise, what happened when you applied irrigation in hilled-up and not hilledup
plots? Why? Can this happen in real field conditions?
❏ In a field, did you observe any differences in pest and disease occurrence between hilled-up and
not hilled-up organic vegetable plots or beds? What pests and diseases were more prevalent?
❏ Were there differences in crop stand, weed growth, and other conditions between hilled-up and
not hilled-up organic vegetable plots or beds?
❏ Did you observe variation in hilling-up practices? Were there differences in pest and disease
occurrence among variations? Were there differences in crop stand, weed growth, and other
conditions among variations?