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

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.