Sustainable Upland Farming through the
Establishment of Barangay Sagip-Saka
Conservation Farming Villegas (CFV).
A Modality for Climate Change
Adaptation
By:
Santiago B. Utzurrum, Jr. and Christopher A. Ablan
Silliman University, Dumaguete City
The Relationship Between Land Use
Change and Climate Change
1. Land-use change is related to climate change as
both a causal factor and a major way in which
the effects of climate change are expressed.
2. As a causal factor, land use influences the flux
of mass and energy, and as land-cover patterns
change, these fluxes are altered.
The Relationship Between Land Use
Change and Climate Change
3. Projected climate alterations will produce changes in
land-cover patterns at a variety of temporal and spatial
scales, although human uses of the land are expected to
override many effects.
4. Humans will change land use, and especially land
management, to adjust to climate change and these
adaptations will have some ecological effects
(Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National
Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831-6038 USA)
The Soil as a Contribution to and Recipient
of the Impacts of Climate Change
1. In the interplay of the soil and the atmosphere,
the soil can be both a contributor to and a
recipient of the impacts of climate change.
2. In the past, land management has generally
resulted in considerable depletion of soil organic
matter and the release into the atmosphere of such
radioactively active gases as carbon dioxide,
methane, and nitrous oxide.
The Soil as a Contribution to and Recipient
of the Impacts of Climate Change
3. Global climate change, to the extent that it
occurs, will strongly impact all soil processes. At
this time, the task of soil management should be to
restore soil organic carbon in order to enhance
soil structure and fertility and to help counter the
atmospheric greenhouse effect (Rosenzweig,
Cynthia; Hillel, Daniel).
A staggering 75% or 22.8 M hectares of the country’s
total land area already suffers from slight to severe erosion.
The Philippine scenario
Soil erosion affects 70% of the 13 M hectares of
alienable and disposable lands with 13 provinces having more
than half of their areas eroded.
There are about 14.3 M hectares of sloping lands (16-
50%) in the country.
High influx of farmers to the uplands compromises the
stability and sustainability of these fragile landscapes.
It is expected that with the rapid growth of population
and the apparent lack of livelihood opportunities in the
lowlands, migration into the upland communities will
continue.
The Philippine scenario
Consequently, the degradation of the uplands through
erosion facilitated by the unsustainable farming practices will
remain unabated causing sustainable losses in ecosystem
services emanating from the uplands with negative
consequences on the lowland, coastal, and marine,
environments.
The government through the leadership of the Bureau of Soils
and Water Management (BSWM) launched the National Action Plan
(NAP) to combat densification and land degradation in the country.
This plan hopes to accelerate the implementation of programs that will
combat land degradation, desertification, and drought, and subsequently
poverty in the most vulnerable areas of the country. One of its crucial
objectives is to improve upland farming systems by providing Site-
Specific packages of technologies to address the declining productivity
and deterioration of the fragile upland environments. It is within this
framework that the Conservation Farming Villages (CFV) program
was conceptualized and implemented.
Addressing the problems: Land degradation,
desertification, and drought
BARANGAY SAGIP-SAKA
Conservation Farming Villages
(CFV’s)
The Conservation Farming Villages
Program or simply CFV is a strategy to catalyze
the transformation of traditional upland farming
systems into sustainable upland production
systems that will not only address upland
degradation but at the same time stimulate
upland community development.
Mobilizing Upland Village Residents: The
Conservation Farming Villages (CFV) Project
The Project Over-all goal
The over-all goal for the project is to
improve life in communities living in
marginal land areas through better livelihood,
agricultural productivity and environmental
security. It aims to help farmers improve
their economic conditions by strengthening
their capacities to manage the natural
resource thereby protecting their
communities against environmental
degradation while sustaining their sources of
livelihood.
The Municipality of La Libertad, Negros
Oriental was chosen as the pilot area for the
implementation of “Sustainable Upland Farming
through the establishment of Barangay Sagip-Saka
Conservation Farming Villages” for the Visayas
area.
The CVF project in the Visayas:
Location and Characterization
The CFV sites are situated in the upland
communities of La Libertad, namely: barangays
Elecia, Pitogo, Aya and Nasunggan.
Barangay Elecia
Barangay Pitogo
Barangay Aya
Barangay Aya
Barangay Aya
Barangay Nasunggan
An analysis of data gathered and validated during the
various stakeholders’ meetings conducted reveal that the
critical problem undermining the development of the
upland communities of La Libertad are:
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Extensive deforestation
Forestland degradation
Soil erosion
These problems results in low land productivity and
subsequently low farm incomes of upland farming
communities. It further exacerbates and affects lowland
areas through downstream flooding and siltation. During
the occurrences of El Niño events, water shortages may
occur.
The Framework for the Establishment
of Conservation Farming Villages
1. Enhance farmer’s adoption of Sloping Land
Methodologies (SLM) through model Science and
Technology (S and T) based farming in the uplands
thereby enhancing their productivity and farm
efficiency as well as conservation and protection of
fragile upland resources;
2. Capacitate key groups and stakeholders in the
community to better manage the fragile upland
resources on a sustained basis;
3. Conduct sustainability exercises to ensure that
upland community development in general, and
adoption of model farmers, in particular, are on a
sustainable basis and these are incorporated in the local
planning and implementation process; and
The Framework for the Establishment
of Conservation Farming Villages
4. Establish linkages among research-extension
agencies and organizations for capacity building and
provision of support systems for the conservation
farming communities.
Strategies implemented to combat the
effects of climate change, biodiversity loss,
and land degradation and drought.
A participatory and bottom-up system of
selection of the most appropriate technologies in the
area is one of the major deliverables of the project.
These include a combination of the technologies and
approaches that were already proven or tested for
increasing land productivity and promoting land
conservation and rehabilitation as modalities to
combat the effects of climate change, biodiversity
loss, and land degradation and drought. This includes
but is not limited to the following:
THE MITIGATING MEASURES . . .
Sloping Agricultural Management Trainings
THE MITIGATING MEASURES . . .
Sloping Agricultural Management Trainings
Contour lay-outing using A-Frame
.
Plowing of contour lay-out
Sowing of hedgerow seeds along contours
Sowing of hedgerow seeds along contours
Rapid composting
Rapid composting
Established soil and water conservation
measures – hedgerows
Water saving technologies/water management
Water saving technologies/water management
Established soil and water conservation
measures – hedgerows
Water saving technologies/water management
Established soil and water conservation
measures – hedgerows & rockwalls
Water saving technologies/water management
Established soil and water conservation
measures – rockwalls
Reforestation
Planted Acacia mangium in barangay Nasunggan
Reforestation
Large-leaf Mahogany
Rehabilitation of denuded barangay site of
Busilak (expansion site of CFV) planted
with 2,000 mangium, narra and mahogany.
Rehabilitation of denuded barangay site of
Busilak (expansion site of CFV) planted
with 2,000 mangium, narra and mahogany.
Planting of Coffee (var. robusta)
seedlings.
Planting of Coffee (var. robusta)
seedlings.
Nursery establishment, care and maintenance in
four (4) CFV project sites
Change in crops, Cropping patterns,
and market matching
Change in crops, Cropping patterns,
and market matching
Nursery establishment, care and maintenance in
four (4) CFV project sites
Change in crops, Cropping patterns,
and market matching
Nursery establishment, care and maintenance in
four (4) CFV project sites
Change in crops, Cropping patterns,
and market matching
Production of High Value Commercial Crops
Change in crops, Cropping patterns,
and market matching
Production of High Value Commercial Crops
RESULTS OF THE INTERVENTIONS
Assessed against expected target outcomes, the project on
the average is running at 80-85% accomplishment of targets.
The interventions implemented by the community (CFV
Barangays) have instilled an increased consciousness of the
fragile nature of upland resources.
As a modality for climate change adaptation and to combat
land degradation/soil erosion, the interventions have resulted in
the over-all well-being of the natural resource environment
leading to improved socio-economic parameters in the
community.
However, much more needs to be done. This is the
challenge.
LESSONS LEARNED
1. The community’s (stakeholders) actual
realization, and identification of the problem besetting
their situation and that they can do something about
the problem and are willing to be involved in the
solution to their problems is of primary importance;
and
2. The strong functional support of the LGU to the
community’s initiatives and undertakings to empower
itself in solving its problems and in the process
improving its socio-economic well-being.
PROJECT PARTNERS The project achievements would not have been possible
without the generous support of resources, technical assistance,
and sometimes financial assistance from our informal and
formal partners as follows:
Provincial Agriculture Office
Philippine Coffee Board
Department of Agriculture, RFU-7
Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources
Philippine Coconut Authority
Department of Environment & Natural Resources
NORSU-CVCIRRD 7
Plan International
PhilDHRRA
Provincial Environment Natural Resource Division (ENRD)
GTZ-KFW Project
