Technical innovations and institution-building for upland development: The case of Landcare in the Philippines

TR Number

Date

2001

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Bukidnon, Philippines: International Center for Research in Agroforestry

Abstract

ICRAF has been conducting research on contour hedgerow systems for the past decade in Claveria, Misamis Oriental and Lantapan, Bukidnon in northern and central Mindanao, Philippines. Focus was much on accessing the management strategies that address key technical constraints of the contour hedgerow system. We observed that adoption by farmers was low for many reasons including high labor in establishment and maintenance of the hedgerows, resource competition above and below-ground, between the hedgerows and associated crops, limited value-added from the hedgerow pruning, and poor species adaptation. We concluded that low adoption of the conventional hedgerow system was not only due to some technical constraints but largely to socio-economic and institutional constraints faced by poor farmers in the uplands.

Description

Keywords

Social learning, Soil erosion, Soil management, Soil conservation, Farmer to farmer, Agroforestry, Community participation, Local knowledge, Watershed management, Adoption of innovations, Ecoagriculture, Conservation farming, Natural vegetative filler strips (nvs), Farm productivity, Technical appropriateness, Grassroots institutional structure, Appropriate policies, Upland development, Tree species evaluation, Sloping agricultural land technology (salt), Trash bunds, Landcare approach, Vegetative buffer strips, Contour farming, Hedgerows, Technology dissemination, Farm/Enterprise Scale

Citation

Paper presented at the International Conference on Sustaining Upland Development in Southeast Asia: Issues, Tools, and Institutions for Local Natural Resources Management, ACCEED, Makati City, Philippines, 27-30 May 2001