Farmer's Assessment of Impacts of Philippine Warty Pig (Sus philippensis Nehring) depredation on Agroforestry System in Mt. Makiling Forest Reserve, Laguna, Philippines

Russel Son A. Cosico; Leonardo M. Florece; Roberto G. Visco; Juancho B. Balatibat; Ecosystems and Development Journal

Russel Son A. Cosico Institute of Agroforestry, CFNR, UPLB, College, Laguna, 4031, Philippines
Leonardo M. Florece School of Environmental Science and Management, University of the Philippines Los Baños
Roberto G. Visco Institute of Renewable Natural Resources, CFNR, UPLB, College, Laguna 4031, Philippines
Juancho B. Balatibat Department of Forest Biological Sciences, College of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of the Philippines Los Baños
Ecosystems and Development Journal

Keywords: crop depredation, monetary losses, warty pigs

Abstract

The assessment of social and economic impacts of Philippine warty pig (Sus philippensis Nehring) depredation on agroforestry crops was studied at the Mount Makiling Forest Reserve (MMFR) in 2012. This was done through structured survey among the farmer-respondents and farm monitoring to locate the physical damages caused by warty pig using Global Positioning System (GPS). The attitudes of farmers toward warty pig damage were analyzed based on symmetric five-point scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree. A total of 160 farmers were interviewed, however, only 50 farmers were affected by warty pig depredation on crops.

Results showed that tubers are the main diet of Philippine warty pig. Damaged root crops include gabi (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott), cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz), ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe), sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.), and ubi (Dioscorea alata L.), either through direct foraging or trampling. Estimated monetary losses from annual root crops was greatest in ubi amounting to PhP 7,712.60 ha-1 yr-1 while the least was in ginger (PhP 105.00 ha-1 yr-1) across the affected farmer-respondents. The physical evidences found were footprints/tracks, wallowing, bark injury due to their tusks, rest area/beddings and rooting.

With regards to farmers’ perception on the damage of warty pig, only 20% strongly agreed on the occurrence of serious damage while more than one-third (42%) of the farmers are providing significant protection to their agroforestry crops/farm. The existence of woody perennials provides another source of income for the household in the event of warty pig damage on the root crops. Agroforestry provided protective functions on farming inside MMFR.