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Smallholder adoption of soil conservation technologies: evidence from upland projects in the Philippines
Author(s) -
Cramb R. A.,
Garcia J. N. M.,
Gerrits R. V.,
Saguiguit G. C.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
land degradation and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.403
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1099-145X
pISSN - 1085-3278
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-145x(199909/10)10:5<405::aid-ldr334>3.0.co;2-j
Subject(s) - soil conservation , agriculture , business , promotion (chess) , resource (disambiguation) , conservation agriculture , environmental planning , agroforestry , environmental resource management , geography , economics , environmental science , political science , computer network , archaeology , politics , computer science , law
Soil erosion due to smallholder agriculture in upland areas of the Philippines is widely regarded as the country's most serious environmental problem. There have been many upland development projects involving the promotion of soil conservation and agroforestry measures. Yet adoption of such practices has been minimal. A research project was commissioned to investigate the technical and socio‐economic factors limiting adoption of recommended soil conservation technologies. The project involved case studies of seven locations where conservation farming had been intensively promoted and adopted by a significant number of farmers. The research methods involved a combination of reconnaissance or rapid rural appraisal methods followed by a questionnaire survey of a sample of farmers from each site. This paper summarizes the project's findings regarding the farm‐level factors associated with the adoption of recommended soil conservation technologies in the case‐study sites. Its focus is on the attributes of the farm‐household influencing the adoption‐decision process, and the consequences of adoption at the level of the farm‐household system. It was found that conservation farming technologies, particularly hedgerows, were widely seen by farmers who were aware of them as useful and even necessary, but it had required resource‐intensive project intervention to get the adoption process going, and adoption was often constrained by farmers' specific circumstances, rather than their personal attributes and perceptions. A wider range of more profitable and less demanding conservation technologies was needed, promoted more flexibly and with greater, on‐going support for farmers in their efforts to experiment with improved farming systems. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.