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Crop Diversification in the Asia-Pacific region - United Nations in ...

Crop Diversification in the Asia-Pacific region - United Nations in ...

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• Economics of cover cropp<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> smallholder rubber farms.• Rubber cropp<strong>in</strong>g system model demonstration farms.The Philipp<strong>in</strong>e Coconut Authority has three major on-go<strong>in</strong>g programmes as part of anationwide programme entitled “Maunlad na Niyugan Tugon sa Kahirapan”. These are:- Model Coconut Farms - <strong>the</strong> major objective is to improve farm productivity andquality of life of coconut farmers by <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong>ir <strong>in</strong>comes. This programme has acrop diversification component.- Replant<strong>in</strong>g and Fertilization Programme - <strong>in</strong>volves plant<strong>in</strong>g and replant<strong>in</strong>g effortswith balanced fertilization, cover crops and <strong>in</strong>tercrops- General Farm Assistance/Extension Services - concerned with <strong>the</strong> streng<strong>the</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g ofl<strong>in</strong>kages among coconut farmers, R&D and extension.The Philipp<strong>in</strong>e Rice Research Institute is currently engaged <strong>in</strong> database developmenton rice-based farm<strong>in</strong>g systems which <strong>in</strong>cludes cropp<strong>in</strong>g patterns and number of adopters on anationwide scale.The Department of Agriculture is currently negotiat<strong>in</strong>g for World Bank Assistance on<strong>the</strong> project entitled “Smallholder Tree <strong>Crop</strong>s Development and <strong>Diversification</strong> Project”. Theproject aims to alleviate poverty, accelerate private <strong>in</strong>vestment <strong>in</strong> agro-<strong>in</strong>dustries, conserveand rehabilitate <strong>the</strong> environment, and contribute towards agricultural and overall economicgrowth by <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g long-term output, value added and exports for which <strong>the</strong> Philipp<strong>in</strong>eshas a comparative advantage.In order to enhance production and productivity <strong>the</strong> government cont<strong>in</strong>uouslyprovides irrigation services to <strong>the</strong> farms. In 1997, about 1.34 M hectares were covered byirrigation and dra<strong>in</strong>age facilities. This was approximately 43 percent of <strong>the</strong> total potentialirrigated areas.6. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONSThe agriculture sector has been a major player <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> Philipp<strong>in</strong>e economy. Withchang<strong>in</strong>g national and global trends, <strong>the</strong> sector has identified a number of strategies to becompetitive. A strategy that has helped alleviate poverty and <strong>in</strong>crease productivity is cropdiversification. The passage by <strong>the</strong> Philipp<strong>in</strong>e Congress of <strong>the</strong> Agriculture and FisheriesModernization Act <strong>in</strong> 1997 is a giant leap towards reap<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> previous efforts of bothgovernment and private sectors on crop diversification.Two perspectives on diversification are presented here<strong>in</strong>. One is plant<strong>in</strong>g alternatecrops after <strong>the</strong> ma<strong>in</strong> crop and <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r is plant<strong>in</strong>g one or more crops <strong>in</strong>-between a perennialcrop. The emphasis of <strong>the</strong> former is on rice while that of <strong>the</strong> latter is coconut. This is sobecause crop production areas <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> country are ma<strong>in</strong>ly devoted to <strong>the</strong>se two importantcrops. Fur<strong>the</strong>rmore, government resources, over <strong>the</strong> years, have been largely allocated to<strong>the</strong>se crops, and such cropp<strong>in</strong>g strategies have been documented. There are o<strong>the</strong>r cropp<strong>in</strong>gpatterns practiced <strong>in</strong> some areas, e.g., corn-legume and corn-root crops. However, <strong>the</strong>se arenot fully documented; hence, <strong>the</strong>se are not discussed <strong>in</strong> this paper.102

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