Philippines

ACIAR's program in the Philippines has been active since 1983. Over the last five years, a refocusing of ACIAR's efforts has occurred, moving programs to the poorer areas of Mindanao and the Visayas, while maintaining strong links to research expertise in Manila and Los Baos. Improving uptake of research in the Philippines is a major priority. In collaboration with Philippine partners, ACIAR has increased its emphasis on better understanding extension processes and involving farmer and community groups in projects. There has been encouraging success with the adaptation of the landcare approach in Mindanao, management of catchments in the Visayas island of Bohol, and uptake of methods for successful tree establishment. New research projects are underpinned by design processes that involve the end users of the research and address their needs. Project design also accommodates additional challenges that have arisen from the devolution of management and governance of extension responsibilities to local government units, and the comparatively weak research-extension linkages that frequently exist. In recognition of the strong research capacity in the Philippines and the ability of Philippines partners to co-invest in programs, there will be an increased emphasis on joint program design and monitoring during 2009-10.

Two major horticultural initiatives involving researchers, government, NGOs and industry partners, commenced in 2008 with a total investment of approximately $12 million. Both initiatives focus on the southern Philippines, specifically regions 8 (Leyte), 10 (northern Mindanao/Cagayan de Oro) and 11 (southern Mindanao/Davao). These are described below. Taken together, the initiatives address most of the agreed priorities in subprograms 1A, 1B and 1C. In 2009, a new mariculture program was designed, building on a number of pilot projects. During 2006 the Community Agricultural Technology program commenced, which aimed to link ACIAR-generated technologies and Philippine research providers with non-government and community-based organisations. This will be absorbed into mainstream ACIAR projects in 2009-10. In 2008 and 2009, a number of natural resources management research projects concluded. In 2009-10, a new natural resources research program will be designed in collaboration with Philippine partners.

One major international agricultural research organisation, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), is headquartered in Los Baos, in the Philippines. ACIAR provides core funding to IRRI and also supports additional initiatives aimed at maintaining rice productivity. The regional office of the International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain, a Bioversity International network, is also headquartered in the Philippines.