Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
logging companies entered the nearby Sierra Madre mountain forests. Although
most companies had to close their doors soon after the logging ban and establish-
ment of a natural park (of about 350,000 ha) in 1997, logging still forms an impor-
tant - but illegal - cash-generating activity. In addition it forms a crucial safety net
in case of crop failure for most smallholder communities around the park. The com-
munities are mainly composed of migrants from low- and upland areas elsewhere
in the region (see also Van den Top 2003). Attracted by the large-scale logging
companies before, but nowadays mostly in search of fertile land for crop cultiva-
tion, they are still either directly or indirectly dependent on the forest for part of
their livelihood.
Meanwhile, forest and land degradation have become serious issues in the valley
and adjacent mountain area. Government and non-governmental organizations put
much effort towards park management and conservation of forest and grassland
areas. Local and regional measurements encompass tree growing activities directed
at watershed rehabilitation and economic development through community-based
reforestation, as well as upgrading nutrition and income diversification through
farm-level fruit and timber production. These efforts are mainly concentrated in the
buffer zone area surrounding the park.
3.2.2
Site Selection and Data Collection
The study area covers five village sites located near the boundary of the Sierra
Madre Mountain Range with a Natural Park to the east and the Cagayan valley
lowland with commercial centers at a 1-hour ride to the west. The area is character-
ized by humid tropical conditions with rainfall ranging between 1,500 and
2,500 mm year −1 . Yet, seasonal drought is rather common particularly during the
period February-May. In the remaining months, rainfall is strong but unevenly dis-
tributed due to, amongst others, regular typhoon occurrence. The area faces severe
agricultural intensification, i.e., a process that already has taken place in the low-
land area but gradually shifts towards the uplands as indicated by disappearing fal-
low periods, opening of new lands for agriculture at the forest frontier, and declining
land areas per household through intergenerational land transmission. While the
five selected villages hardly differ in terms of market access and distance, they vary
in terms of biophysiography, land use and land use intensification. Two villages are
located in a more elevated and sloping (until 450 m.a.s.l.) area with a mixture of
forest patches, grassland and (semi-)permanent agriculture, two are situated in a
predominantly flat lowland area mainly used for monocultures of seasonal cash
crops (i.e., corn, rice and tobacco), and one is in an intermediate, hilly lowland zone
that combines elements of the two other areas being mainly used as grassland for
extensive cattle ranging but increasingly converted to intensive corn and rice
cultivation.
Projects promoting tree integration have been active in all villages, but their
direct impact was limited. Over the past 10 to 15 years two programs promoting
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