Smallholder Tree Growing in Philippine Back Yards: Homegarden Characteristics in Different Environmental Settings - Smallholder Tree Growing for Rural Development and Environmental Services - page 54

degradable waste materials such as tins, plastic bags and bottles. Moreover, the con-
tent is usually burned and the ashes only sometimes applied to seedlings, vegetable
beds and ornamental plants as means of fertilizer application but also for pest and
weed control. In many cases, the compost pit materials are burned to reduce the
amount of waste rather than to apply it as crop management practice. Chemical pesti-
cides are mainly applied to vegetable crops, eggplant in particular.
The time spent working in the homegarden varies from 30 to 90 minutes per day
- before, after and/or in between work on the cash crop farms - by one or two per-
sons, depending on the size of the homegarden and type and number of crops.
Households that keep livestock spend an additional 30 to 60 minutes in the morning
and the afternoon feeding the animals and cleaning cages. Other chores include
sweeping, burning wastes, weeding, fertilizing and watering. Moreover trees are
regularly trimmed, not only to provide fuelwood or promote fruit or leaf growth,
but also to increase their resistance against wind during typhoon events. The time
needed for planting vegetables varies from three to six hours for one or two days, with
the job being performed after finishing the planting on outside farms. The work on
the farms clearly has priority.

2.4.5 The Main Reasons for Farmers to Have a Homegarden

Farmers maintain homegardens for all sorts of reasons, including those associated with
short-term and long-term economic aspects, socio-cultural and aesthetic values, environ-
mental quality, and accessibility. Farmers spontaneously give one to three reasons for
having a homegarden. They either refer to “having something to eat for the family” (65
percent of all interviewed), or to “no need to buy” (51 percent) or to “having something
to sell” (35 percent). The latter two reasons refer to short-term economic means of
respectively saving and generating cash money to purchase household products such as
canned or processed food (e.g., sardines, oil, salt, cigarettes and alcohol) and to cover tax,
electricity, educational and medical expenses. Environmental functions like limiting
damage from strong wind, flooding, runoff and erosion are referred to a few times only.
The interviews revealed that 60 percent of all households in this study sold
something from their homegardens, i.e., 28 percent only livestock (raised in home-
garden), 16 percent only fruits and vegetables, and another 16 percent both fruits
and vegetables and livestock.
The annual gross income generated from homegarden fruits and vegetables varies
considerable, with an average of PhP 14,353 ± 48,117 per hectare (median: PhP 6,649;
exchange rate at research time: US$1 = PhP 51), or PhP 3,739 ± 6,259 per household
(median: PhP 1,385), i.e. 7 or 18 percent of the total household income (based on
median or mean value respectively). The variation in gross income is related to the
economic value of the crops (Table 2.5) and the ratio between low- and high-valued
crops being sold rather than the size of the homegarden. The highest income, i.e., PhP
164,745, PhP 144,158 and PhP 83,333 on a per-hectare basis, is derived from
homegardens of respectively 607, 1,840 and 600 m 2 producing banana in combination