Cover Crop Seeds for Mindanao Plantations

Major crops in Mindanao

Mindanao is the agricultural engine of the Philippines and the country's only major oil palm region. The wet, lowland tropical climate and volcanic soils support a wider range of plantation crops than anywhere else in the archipelago.

Recommended species per crop

Broadcast rates below are per hectare of ground to be covered. Mucuna bracteata is the exception: it is transplanted as nursery-raised seedlings and is never broadcast.

Nitrogen contribution: what the figures mean

Tropical legume covers fix nitrogen biologically. For Mucuna bracteata, published work reports roughly 67 to 84 percent of nitrogen derived from the atmosphere (Ndfa). The 67 to 84 percent figure comes from one 15N isotope-dilution study under three-year-old oil palm on Jawa Series soil in Malaysia (Cheah et al. 2010).

For Pueraria phaseoloides (sold as Pueraria javanica, PJ), the best-measured reference point comes from Clermont-Dauphin et al. (2016), who measured up to 250 kg N/ha/yr accumulated in aboveground biomass, from roughly 8 Mg/ha/yr of aboveground biomass, with 85 to 93 percent of that nitrogen derived from the atmosphere (Ndfa), in a rubber intercrop in northeast Thailand. Read the 250 kg figure as a measured upper reference point from a well-established stand under favourable conditions in a single trial, not as a design value or a promise: published figures vary widely with site, stand age, and management, and a thin or young stand fixes far less.

The same study carries an important caveat for planters on drought-prone ground. On the water-limited part of the slope the Pueraria cover reduced the young rubber trees' drought resilience, even though it improved tree growth where water was not limiting. If your block has a pronounced dry season or a shallow, free-draining upper slope, weigh that risk against the nitrogen gain, and manage cover density around young trees accordingly.

Treat any absolute kilogram figure as indicative and site-dependent: soil type, rainfall, canopy shade, and management all move it. Legume cover contributes nitrogen; adjust your fertiliser programme only after soil and leaf analysis shows what the cover supplies on your block.

Source: Clermont-Dauphin, C., Suvannang, N., Pongwichian, P., Cheylan, V., Hammecker, C. and Harmand, J.-M. (2016). Dinitrogen fixation by the legume cover crop Pueraria phaseoloides and transfer of fixed N to Hevea brasiliensis: impact on tree growth and vulnerability to drought. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 217: 79-88. doi:10.1016/j.agee.2015.11.002

Local context: BPI certificates and delivery terms

Export shipments carry a phytosanitary certificate issued by the Philippine Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), the National Plant Protection Organization recognised under the IPPC. For Mindanao customers, our office in Tigatto, Davao City, is on the same island as the major estates. Orders are Ex Works (EXW) Tigatto, Davao City, unless the quotation states FOB or CIF for export. Delivery to an address in Mindanao can be arranged on request and at your cost: you may collect from our premises in Tigatto, send your own trucker or forwarder, or ask us to book a carrier, in which case the quotation states the delivery address and the delivery cost. Risk passes to you when the goods are handed to the carrier in Davao City, unless the quotation says otherwise.

SoilBoost EA, the humic acid soil conditioner we recommend alongside the legume cover, is manufactured exclusively for Chemiseed Sdn. Bhd. and Kudzu Seeds Trading. It is leonardite-derived, with about 0.45 percent sulphur and pH 3.84. It is a soil conditioner, not a fertiliser and not a substitute for one, and it is not a fungicide or pesticide. Standard application is 50 to 100 kg/ha broadcast, or 10 to 15 kg/ha as a drench.

Frequently asked questions

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