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Farmers and fishermen families in Mindanao, Philippines, are no strangers to natural and man-made disasters. For more than four decades, they have faced displacement as recurring armed conflicts have disrupted their lives and livelihoods. In the past five years, the region has also been hit by strong typhoons, widespread flooding and widespread drought, which have exacerbated the families’ plight.
FAO is helping 10,475 farming and fishing households in Cotabato Province to restore their livelihoods through a $3 million grant from the Government of New Zealand. The project aims to restore the agricultural livelihoods of smallholder farmers in five municipalities (Aleosan, Kabacan, Midsayap, Pigkawayan and Pikit) and build their resilience to disasters and climate change.
Prior to 2011, the Mindanao region in the Philippines was rarely hit by strong typhoons. The region was considered a prime location for agricultural production and attracted several large multinational companies. However, over the past five years, the situation has changed dramatically. Most farmers and fishermen in the region, who had never experienced extreme weather events, now find themselves vulnerable to the “new normal.”
In some areas, the struggle is exacerbated by armed conflict, which forces people to flee their homes and abandon their livelihoods.
“Every time there is fighting, our livelihood is greatly affected. When we evacuate, we also have to abandon our farms and crops such as rice and maize,” explained Talamid Madaliday, a farmer in Midsayap municipality.
Noli Calapate, a rice farmer from the municipality of Aleosan, recounted how extreme weather conditions affect agricultural activities in the community: “We are affected by droughts and sometimes we cannot plant on time because there is not enough water. During the rainy season, our crops are also sometimes damaged because we cannot control the floods.”
Both Talamed and Noli are from Cotabato Province in Central Mindanao, one of the areas hardest hit by natural and man-made disasters. The province is also one of the poorest in the country.
With a $3 million grant from the Government of New Zealand, FAO is helping farmers and fishermen in Mindanao, such as Noli and Talamed, to restore their livelihoods and build resilience to the impacts of extreme weather events and armed conflict.
Cotabato farmers get climate smart
FAO’s Climate-Smart Farmer Field Schools are transforming the way communities produce rice, maize and vegetables, crops that were severely damaged in recent droughts and floods.
Through applied learning, these farmer field schools are promoting resilience-building methods. The curriculum includes on-farm training, the use of climate information and local weather forecasts, technical demonstrations and field days. Practical exercises make up 50% of the activities. In this way, participants are able to observe first-hand, brainstorm and analyse agro-ecological systems to solve problems related to various challenges.
“We learned new methods, like those we learned during the disaster workshops. We learned how to use rain gauges and how to control pests such as rats and black bugs that destroy our crops,” explained Marie Fe Valeroso, a farmer from Aleozan who participated in the Farmer Field School.
Speaking to farmers in Midsayap City, Matthew DeWitt, Deputy Chief of Mission of the New Zealand Embassy in the Philippines, said: “The most important thing about this project is education. Taking advantage of all the information, lessons and knowledge shared by FAO and experts on how to improve agriculture, and then taking those lessons and sharing them with the community – creating a culture of sharing and learning – is a huge part of the project’s development and long-term success.”
Local government agricultural extension workers also worked with FAO to run farmer field schools and gained practical experience that will enable them to replicate the activity.
On behalf of the Philippine government’s Department of Agriculture, Ranibai Dilangalen, Undersecretary for Special Affairs, thanked FAO and New Zealand: “We look forward to continued collaboration to achieve rice self-sufficiency and, of course, food security.”
Livelihood restoration
In addition to training activities on disaster risk reduction and climate resilience, FAO is working with the Ministry of Agriculture and local governments to distribute supplies to help 10,475 farming and fishing families in the municipalities of Aleosan, Pikit, Midsayap, Kabacan and Pigkawayan to restore their livelihoods. The supplies include rice, maize and vegetable seeds, fruit tree seedlings, fertilizers, drying nets, small agricultural machinery, post-harvest equipment, livestock and poultry, tilapia fingerlings and gillnets. The project is expected to last until October 2017.
“We are grateful to FAO and the people of New Zealand. They taught us how to improve our farming practices and provided us with inputs such as rice, maize and chicken,” said Tallamid.
“Instead of spending our own money to buy seeds, we can plant the seeds given by FAO so that we can use the money we have to recover from the difficulties brought by El Niño to our village,” added Mary Fai.
FAO’s work in Mindanao
Since 2015, FAO’s activities in the region have been guided by its Mindanao Agriculture and Agribusiness Strategic PlanActivities under the framework aim to promote inclusive, equitable and sustainable growth by helping smallholder farmers escape poverty, linking lagging regions to more advanced cities, and increasing the resilience of agricultural livelihoods to crises and climate impacts.
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