Smallholder Tree Growing in Philippine Back Yards: Homegarden Characteristics in Different Environmental Settings - Smallholder Tree Growing for Rural Development and Environmental Services - page 36

● What types of village homegardens occur in the Cagayan Valley and how do
these compare with homegardens elsewhere in Southeast Asia, in terms of tree
and non-tree components, species diversity, structure, crop combinations, man-
agement, farm activities outside village, and function?
● Do different types of homegardens represent levels of diversification and/or
specialization within specific land use zones, i.e., the upland, the hilly grassland
and the lowland zones?
● How are homegardens related to cultivated fields outside villages? Are changes
in the management of outside farms in specific land use zones also reflected in
the homegardens, in terms of species choice and diversity, ratio of tree and non-
tree components, and plant densities?
● Is there a gradual change in farmers' main reasons for homegarden cultivation and
management when moving from the remote upland zone to the accessible lowlands?
2.2 Methodology
This chapter presents a study of tree-based homegardens in five villages in the
Cagayan Valley in Northeast Luzon. The villages are located in three distinct, but
neighboring, zones extending in North-South direction: Moldero (Tumauini) and
Malibabag (Peña Blanca) in the lowland zone, Namnama (Tumauini) and Baliuag
(Peña Blanca) in the intermediate zone of grassland hills and Dy Abra (Tumauini)
in the upland zone bordering the Sierra Madre mountain range (see Figure 16.1 in
Chapter 16, this volume). The villages differ in accessibility (distance/travel time)
to the main markets in the provinces of Isabela and Cagayan (see Table 2.2). A total
of 57 homegardens were investigated by means of field observations and measure-
ments, including species identification and individual plant counting.
The households and their respective homegardens were selected at random using
population lists: 24 in the lowland villages (the total investigated homegarden area:
14,357 m 2 and 12,829 m 2 for Moldero and Malibabag respectively), 20 in the hilly
grassland villages (7,197 m 2 and 8,158 m 2 for Namnama and Baliuag) and another 13
in the upland village (17,005 m 2 ). Because most homegardens are equally small in
size, no distinction was made into different size classes. Of the 57 gardens, 88 per-
cent are less than 0.2 ha. The remaining ones range from 0.24 to 0.38 ha, with each
village sample including one garden of this size except for the Dy Abra sample that
contains two (for comparison: Peyre et al. 2006 classify homegardens of 0.40 ha or
less as “small-sized” and those of 0.72 ha on average as “medium-sized”).
Species composition, plant densities and vegetation structure were investigated,
including only those species - whether planted or spontaneously growing - that in
one way or the other are used by the homegarden cultivators. Seedlings and young
trees 50 cm or more in height were also recorded but only included for species rich-
ness determination. Ornamental plants were counted but not identified by scientific
name and only used for determining differences in plant density between villages.
The same single analysis was applied to the livestock data.