Smallholder Tree Growing in Philippine Back Yards: Homegarden Characteristics in Different Environmental Settings - Smallholder Tree Growing for Rural Development and Environmental Services - page 41

Photo 2.2 Ornamental plants within a mixed lowland homegarden in Isabela Province, the
Philippines (©DJ Snelder)
than 70 years ago (Photo 2.2). The gardens and residential lots are almost all pri-
vately owned and have an average size of 0.10 and 0.13ha for, respectively,
Moldero and Malibabag (i.e., 14 and 11 percent of the average total farm areas;
Table 2.2). The tenure status of surrounding farms is rather different: only half, or
even less, of all households interviewed has property rights over at least one of their
farms (Table 2.2). Other farms are under a tenancy arrangement (54 percent of the
households in Moldero), squatted or cultivated by hired laborers. Most farmers in
Moldero acquired their farms through land reform in the 1970s and late 1980s. Yet
in most cases, land reform was not fully completed. Tenants are still giving one
third of their harvest to their (former) landowner. The farms are used for seasonal
cash crops, i.e., monocultures of corn and tobacco. Sometimes rice is cultivated for
home consumption, whereas homegarden vegetables and fruits also serve as cash
crops. In Malibabag, livestock is the main cash-generating product, followed by
fruits and vegetables, all mainly produced in the homegarden systems (Photo 2.3).
Rice and corn are planted on farms and solely serve for home consumption.
The villages Namnama and Baliuag (200 to 300 households) are both located in
the middle of the hilly grassland zone (population density: 50 to 150 persons per
km 2 ; NSO 2001). They are connected to major markets (in Tumauini and Cabagan
respectively) along the national highway by a mixed dirt-gravel road of 6 to 8 km
long. The households belong to a migrant mixture of Tinguian, Ibanag, and Ilocano
ethnic groups, with the first families settling down in 1956 (Baliuag) or earlier
(Namnama). Compared to the other villages, Namnama and Baliuag are intermedi-
ate in terms of geographic location, altitude, population density, household num-
bers, accessibility, total farms size, and age of homegardens (Table 2.2). There is,
however, one exception: the homegardens are smallest at these sites, having an