Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
it was reasoned that this type of labor rather than tree growing itself is less demand-
ing and therefore encouraged farmers to cultivate trees (Dove in Arnold and
Dewees 1995).
At the farm field level, tenure is negatively related to tree growing. This con-
tradicts the general positive relationship in other studies (Mercer 2004) suggest-
ing farmers are more inclined to grow trees on land with secure tenure. The latter
is explained in terms of the high investments to be made for plantation establish-
ment. The households in this study did not follow this trend because the fields
with secure tenure (i.e., titled or CLT-land) are mainly prime agricultural land
preferably used for seasonal cropping. The fields with relatively insecure tenure
(i.e., squatted lands or land taken into 'position') are preferably used for tree
growing and located on sloping land close to the forest boundary. Although offi-
cially households have no tenure over these lands, they can use the land with little
chance of being evicted. Law enforcement is hardly practiced. The Philippine
government generally tolerates the informal land occupancy and, at local level,
the informal claims are well recognized. Some farmers use tree growing as a
means to claim the land, hoping that tree ownership will eventually lead to secure
land rights.
The distance between a field and farmer's house is negatively related to tree
growing but no examples have been found in other studies. Trees are preferably
grown close to the house where farmers can more easily inspect them and prevent
damage or losses by fire, astray animals and theft (in the case of fruits). The size of
a field is positively related to tree growing corresponding to the majority findings
in the literature (Pattanayak et al. 2003).
Tree growing is further positively related to fine-textured clayey soils and nega-
tively related to coarse-textured soils. Clayey reddish soils are of relatively low fer-
tility and mostly located on sloping land. The soils in sloping areas are generally
thinner and affected by the outflow of nutrients (by through flow and overland flow,
i.e., erosion) and therefore not very suitable for seasonal cash crop cultivation.
Clayey black soils are more fertile and high in base-rich smectites. They are located
in concave slope sections, foot slope areas (both locations affected by the inflow of
nutrients) or slope depressions. The coarse-textured soils have a relatively high
sand content (sandy loam, sandy clay loam) and are often developed in alluvial
material. They therefore typically occur in flat areas near rivers and streams, which
are preferably reserved for the cultivation of seasonal cash crops, i.e., corn and
tobacco.
A major challenge is finally to translate these findings into adaptations of exten-
sion programs. What is necessary is to adapt proposed technologies to specific situ-
ations of the recipient communities and offer multiple, rather than single,
technologies allowing each household to choose whatever fits best within their
livelihood strategy. This is the so called 'basket of technology' that Scherr (1995)
proposes as extensions strategy. That this has not yet been achieved illustrates that
the gap between the research community and actual development practice has as of
yet, not been bridged.
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