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| Title | Modalities for scaling-up technology-dissemination approaches in natural resource management: landcare and NRM planning process in Northern and Central Mindanao, Philippines | | Author | Delia Catacutan, Augustin R. Mercado Jr. and Marcelino Patindol | | Year | 2000 | | Institution | International Institute of Rural Reconstruction | | City | Silang, Cavite, Philippines | | Number of Pages | 21 | | Call Number | RP0067-04 | | Keywords | Technology Dissemination, Natural Resource, Landcare |
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| Abstract: |
| This paper describe the increment successes and modalities in scalling up technologies, approaches and processes in natural resource management, implemanted as part of the Research and Development (R&D) program of the International Center for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF), in the provinces of Misamis Oriental And Bukidnon in Northern and Central Mindanao along with partners from the Local Goverments and other public and private institutions. ICRAF has been conducting research on contour hedgerow technologies for the past decade in Claveria, Misamis Oriental. Focus was much on assesing the management strategies that address key technical constrains of the contour hedgerow system, and observed that adoption by farmers was low for many reasons, including, high labor in establishment and maintenance of the hedgerows, resource competition above and below-ground between the hedgerows and associated crops, limited value-added from the hedgerow prunings, and poo species adaption.
In view of this, we refocused our efforts toward finding alternative systems that address the technical and institutional issues of conservation farming. We found that natural vegetative filter strips (NVS) provide simple solutions to the technical constraints of soil conservation on sloping farms. These are buffer strips laid out on the contour for farmers to evolve into complex agroforestry systems with fruit and timbe
r trees. We now see a tremendous surge of adoption of this system, enhanced by a dissemination approach, called "Landcare".
Landcare is a movement of farmer-led organizations supported by local goverments with backstopping from technical service providers that share knowledge about sustainable and profitable agriculture on sloping lands while conserving natural resources. The approach has developed into a dynamic voluntary movement with now more than 5000 farmers involved in 250 groups from five municipalities in northeern, central and eastern Mindanao. Today, Landcare becomes the melting pot for farmers and other to discuss issues, share lessons, invest talents, skills and other resources geared towards better land husbandry and protection of the environment from degradation. It threads a path for constructive, long term and practical action at a community level for tackling enviroment and sustainability issues for the well being of people and their communities.
The challenge to scale-up Landcare was at the height when some farmers, NGO groups and local governments begun to show interest on Landcare. We know, that this is not only rewarding, but critical as well. We have to carefully plan to engage in partnerships with lesser expectation coming from our partners other than, technical knowledge and strategies. We realized that we can't be everywhere doing the same thing at the same time. Altough, it is not our explicit mandate, we recognized the resposibility to share our lesson and experiences to others, given the oppurtunities for doing this. We started, by drawing out a road map for scaling-up and identifying modalities for scaling-up on the basis of the conditions, opportunities and interests of the other sites. This paper describe these modalities for scaling-up the Landcare approach and Locally
-led natural resource management planning process. |
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