Socio-economic and Environmental Impacts of a Conservation Farming Villagae (CFV) Project on Upland Farmers in General Nakar, Quezon, Philippines

Abstract

A study to compare the socio–economic status and environmental awareness of fourteen farmer volunteers (FVs) before and after participating in the Conservation Farming Village (CFV) project was conducted in General Nakar, Quezon. CFV is a modality for transformation of traditional upland farming systems into sustainable farming systems that will address upland environmental degradation and improve farmers’ socio–economic conditions. The project adopted a community–based participatory approach to development, promotion and utilization of water and soil conservation agricultural practices; and a multi–level technology promotion mechanism to capacitate local extension/change agents. Research methods included gathering secondary data, farmer volunteer interviews, and a final field reconnaissance. After the CFV implementation, at least some of the farmer volunteers had taken up all but two of the thirteen introduced agricultural practices, and had adopted four new practices in particular: contour hedgerows, elimination of inorganic inputs, mulching and composting. Results showed that there was an average increase in farm income of 143%; this was backed up by the farmers’ scores for farm income before and after CFV, which showed a significant increase from ‘low’ to ‘moderate’. This increase in income was probably due to increased crop diversity and yields as a result of contour farming and intercropping; and reduced costs for chemical inputs due to adoption of mulching and composting. The skills and knowledge of the FVs about environmental issues also significantly improved based on Wilcoxon signed rank test while the attitude towards CFV based on Likert scale showed that the farmers were convinced of the benefits brought by the new practices learned through the project.