Abstract:
The study was conducted to determine the organic and conventional production practices of lettuce production, to determine the cost and return and to identify the problems encountered by the organic and conventional production of lettuce in La Trinidad, Benguet.
For organic producers, the following are the farm practices observed: all organic farmers have composting shed, majority of them planted in open area, practiced intercropping, buy their seeds, their planting distance is 7x7 inches, source of irrigation is from brook and spring, their frequency of irrigation is every day, all of the farmers applied fertilizer, majority of them applied compost weeds through side dressing, and all of them used mokusaku in spraying. On the other hand, the farm practices of conventional farmers are: all of them plant in open field, majority of them practiced monocropping and intercropping, buy their seeds, planting distance is 7x7 inches, source of irrigation is from canal and river, their frequency of irrigation is every day, all of them apply fertilizer, majority of them used triple 16 and they apply through basal application, and all of the farmers sprayed different kinds of pesticides to control the pest of lettuce.
The net returns derived by the farmers in producing lettuce are PhP 17,883.81 for organic and PhP 6,639.19 for conventional respectively. Therefore, organic produced are more profitable than conventional.
The major problems encountered by organic and conventional farmers are pest and typhoon.
