Philippines - Country Office

1. Overview
2. Country Strategy
3. Priorities
4. Key Program Managers
5. Current Projects
6. Concluded Projects
7. Achievements
8. Relevant Publications
9. Country News and Stories
10. Project Locations
11. Country Office
12. Country Portfolio
13. Fellowship Statistics

Country Office

Key indicators and performance for 2006-07

Indicator: Ongoing involvement of farmer groups and local government in participatory research and extension in ACIAR projects

Performance: Participatory research and extension is a feature of three projects commenced in 2006-07.

Indicator: Priorities from 2006 Philippines-ACIAR country consultation addressed in development of new themes and projects

Performance: Several projects under design address improved quality and marketing/market access for vegetables. In fisheries, two new projects investigate the potential for reef ranching and restocking of sea cucumbers, and opportunities to improve product quality, market access and prices for molluscs. Major scoping study on policy constraints to the adoption of research outputs conducted.

Indicator: Community Agricultural Technologies Program (CATP) commenced and at least six new collaborations between Philippines ACIAR researchers and NGOs formed

Performance: CATP commenced and six collaborations formed with NGOs.

Indicator: ACIAR-AusAID Landcare project farmer groups established in Agusan del Sur and Bohol, implementing livelihoods diversification approaches

Performance: Two new Landcare sites in Agusan del Sur and Bohol have been established. Livelihood diversification approaches have been successful.

Indicator: 40 per cent of new projects to have significant farmer or policymaker impacts within five years of completion

Performance: One of two “standard” projects developed in 2006/07 specifically designed to have “category 1 impact”, in addition seven Community Agricultural Technology Program projects were implemented.

Achievements from the 2006-07 Annual Report

ACIAR’s Philippines program in 2006-07 focused on three major themes:

• Increasing the market competitiveness of Philippines agricultural products
• Farmer-based land and water resource management for profitable and sustainable agriculture
• Addressing regulatory, policy and technical constraints to the adoption of research outputs.

In the Philippines field infestations of insects cause losses and damage levels ranging from 10 to 40 per cent. Insect damage may limit market access, particularly for small-scale farmers. A project has focused on how to improve control and detection of seed and pulp weevils in mangoes. For the Province of Palawan scientists have developed an integrated pest management work plan, designed to reduce usage of insecticides by 40% while improving control of pulp weevil as well as leafhoppers and fruit fly. As well, deficiencies in the supply chain of mangoes from producer to point of sale severely affect fruit quality and market opportunities. The project is developing a ‘road map’ from which technical or business priorities can be identified and strategies implemented to bring about improvements. So far the researchers have mapped the Philippine mango supply chain in detail, and this is now being validated during field visits to the production areas in Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Guiamaras provinces. From the same studies the researchers are gaining an overview of the major technical postharvest problems.

A project to introduce biofumigation has achieved its objectives. The researchers successfully tested natural fumigants produced from residues of certain varieties of brassica crops, as a substitute for methyl bromide fumigation to combat soil pathogens, including bacterial wilt (BW) and root knot nematode. They developed a rapid, efficient screening assay to quantify volatile suppression of BW and other soil-borne pathogens. The Northern Mindanao Agricultural Research Center is making its distribution of clean potato seed to farmers in Mindanao contingent on their agreement to adopt biofumigation techniques on their farms. Now farmers from the provinces of Benguet, Pangasinan, Bukidnon, Davao del Sur and South Cotabato have started to use biofumigation within their cropping systems and have obtained around 20% increase in crop yield. Two collaborating farmers who had abandoned potato growing on their farms have returned to the crop since incorporating biofumigation as part of their BW control strategy. They are now demonstrating the concept to other farmers in the region.

Shrinking water availability and the increasing trend to direct seeding is allowing weeds to compete during rice crop establishment. Herbicide use is rising as a result, and with it comes the potential for resistance—there are two or three rice seasons in the Philippines and hence, farmers spray herbicides up to six times per year. A project is developing a framework for examining public policy towards herbicide use and preparing to deal with actual or impending resistance. The project has established an herbicide-resistance testing procedure through PhilRice, and via a field survey and a national network of extension/agronomy agents has screened a number of populations of major weeds for resistance to important herbicides. Participatory on-farm trials over several seasons at four Philippines' sites have tested an integrated weed management (IWM) strategy combining good land preparation, intermittent water management, and single herbicide application of a pre- or early post-emergence herbicide. The IWM strategies, tested alongside the farmers’ current weed management practice, are showing better weed control, increased yields and higher profits.

ACIAR has been involved for some years in programs to introduce Landcare principles in parts of Mindanao. Now further research has assessed the sustainability of the approach at the original sites and tested the approach at new sites with differing needs, such as on Bohol Island. Preliminary findings highlight some key factors in institutional success—commitment, competence, leadership, incentives and effective partnerships. Progress has continued in sustaining and scaling up adoption of conservation farming systems and diversified livelihoods. The latest project has facilitated or provided 55 major training and networking events, including training and exposure to expertise in nursery management, and production of many products such as forage, high-value vegetables, fruit trees, livestock, coffee, coconut, abaca, bamboo, mushrooms, medicinal plants, bananas, wood products and fish. Groups have received training in subjects such as integrated crop production, soil and water conservation, agroforestry, permaculture, soil testing, integrated pest management and biodynamic production.

A project is determining what factors make seasonal forecasting more valued. Farmers and industry people need reliable seasonal climate forecasts (SCFs) to better cope with the adverse effects of seasonal climatic variabilities like El Niño and La Niña. These forecasts are made prior to the start of any season of agricultural significance. By using sea surface temperatures and atmospheric indices a probabilistic forecast can be made. Farmer acceptance of their value relies on the ease of use, including lead time, consistency and transparency. Case studies from both the Philippines and Australia are being subjected to this value testing via an economically derived framework. The researchers aim to help farmers in rainfed agriculture in both countries to benefit by addressing their reservations surrounding forecasting accuracy.

Smallholder agroforestry systems in Leyte are being tested for measures to improve timber yield and quality and to improve market access. The project team has worked to define and implement local-level policy changes in relation to tree cutting and transport regulations, with increasing success. The pressing issue of limited higher quality seedling supply has emerged as a major constraint to development of the Philippines agroforestry sector, and a newly commissioned ACIAR project will investigate how to enhance tree seedling supply via economic and policy changes in the nursery sector.

Work on sustainable use of shallow groundwater has focused on two pilot sites within neighbouring municipalities in the province of Ilocos Norte, located on the northwestern tip of Luzon. The project team focused on characterisation of the groundwater resources at the two locations. Data collected is helping determine sustainable yield and set up a groundwater model. The model will enable future impacts of groundwater extraction to be determined, as well as impacts of changed management. Pumping tests have determined rates of water movement through the aquifer, and pressure loggers in a number of wells have recorded fluctuations of water levels. The researchers conducted an economic assessment of agricultural productivity within the two field sites, where rice is grown during the wet season and garlic supplemented by groundwater grown during the dry season. Results showed labour and fertiliser were the largest input costs for both rice and garlic production, although the cost of fuel for water pumps is significant for garlic. Growing one hectare of garlic generates three to four times the return of rice, but rice remains a traditional crop for two reasons—it provides a staple food for household consumption and also rice straw as mulching material for garlic.

The Philippines and Indonesia are concerned about the impacts of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, which leads to combined losses of more than US$3 billion per annum to their respective economies. A project was commissioned following the recommendations of an earlier small ACIAR project to further research options to combat IUU in both the Philippines and Indonesia and to implement the FAO-endorsed International Plan of Action on IUU Fishing. First, national workshops on IUU fishing were held in Indonesia and the Philippines, to clarify some of the issues that the two countries must deal in addressing IUU fishing. This was followed by a Bilateral Workshop to assess the IUU problems in the Sulawesi Sea between the two countries. Both countries shared information on national fisheries laws and regulations, licensing systems, monitoring, control and surveillance, and data collection systems. They also discussed status of stocks and IUU fishing issues in the Sulawesi Sea, arriving at a framework for cooperation to address IUU fishing in these mutually shared waters.

Case Study - Rural women take charge

Throughout Asia the story is familiar. Economic pressures are pushing members of farm households to seek off-farm work. And it is usually the wife left behind to look after the farm. Thus women are changing roles from unpaid family workers to farm managers.

Mrs Lien’s husband works in a private shoe factory in Ho Chi Minh City. This leaves Mrs Lien to raise the family while she single-handedly oversees the small farm’s rice-growing. She describes her life since she started running the family’s irrigated farm in South Vietnam: ‘My husband comes home once a year … so aside from the traditional tasks I used to do, I now have to do his jobs, such as preparing the nursery for rice seedlings, irrigating the fields, broadcasting fertiliser and spraying pesticides. After going to the market and finishing household chores, I visit our fields every day.’

In the northern Philippines, another woman whose husband is a seasonal migrant says: ‘If my husband is away, I supervise the farm’s crop operations. My husband leaves after the land preparation to work as a carpenter in another province for at least four months. Now I have to check when the crop is ready and start hiring labourers to harvest it. I find it difficult to hire labourers because there is competition during these peak months.’

Stories from north-east Thailand are similar. The women left behind must take on new managerial responsibilities: ‘Although my husband’s remittances from construction work are a big help to us, particularly for our children’s education, I have to manage the labourers for rice production and for crop care of the rubber plantation,’ says one Thai wife. ‘I make all the decisions about farm and household matters. When in doubt, I phone my husband.’

These changing roles are bringing to light another difficulty, which was outlined by Dr Thelma Paris, a social scientist with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). ‘The women’s lack of access to the information and resources they need for new crop and water management technologies can have a negative impact on the productivity and sustainability of local agriculture,’ she says. ‘Agricultural technologies, practices, policies and systems are based on the conventional assumption that farmers in developing countries are fulltime male farmers.’

Dr Paris is leading an ACIAR project that is looking at social changes occurring in agriculture in Asia and also Australia, and the changing roles of women as a result of off-farm employment or migration. The project involves IRRI, Curtin University of Technology (WA), Khon Kaen University (Thailand) and the Cuu Long Delta Rice Research Institute (Vietnam). The team brings a mix of social science skills, including gender specialisation, agricultural economics, sociology and extension.

‘Our research should provide early warning of rapid changes that may be undermining the national and regional food security that we’ve worked so hard to achieve over the past several decades,’ says Dr Paris.

The researchers have conducted focus group discussions with women farmers in the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Australia, to identify the factors that constrain or support the adoption and diffusion of technologies and to understand more of the difficulties faced by women in agriculture due to male out-migration. As part of the project 60 women who are heads of farms in selected villages from the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam have an opportunity to test new strategies and improve their farm productivity. Their findings should prove valuable for women throughout the region.