Assessing the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Agricultural Production in Southeast Asia: Toward Transformative Change in Agricultural Food Systems

How will the COVID-19 pandemic affect the agriculture sector in Southeast Asia? Clearly, any disruptions in the agricultural food systems would create supply and demand shocks that would impact on the agriculture sector’s immediate and long-term economic performance and food security contribution. Overall, the COVID-19 pandemic during the first quarter of year 2020 is estimated to result in 3.11 percent or 17.03 million tons reduction in aggregate volume of agricultural production in Southeast Asia due to decline in agricultural farm labor affecting 100.77 million individuals. This crisis could translate to 1.4 percent decrease in GDP of the Southeast Asian region, which is equivalent to USD 3.76 billion. Ensuring a systemic transformation of the agricultural systems into resilient, sustainable, productive, and inclusive food systems would be crucial for the future of Southeast Asia

Analysis of Nutritional Status and Income of Landless Agricultural Workers and Their Households from Two Villages in Calauan, Laguna, Philippines

Poverty among landless agricultural workers can be addressed by improving their health status through proper nutrition. Good health influences a person’s ability to work and earn a living. This paper assesses the effect of income on the nutritional status of landless farm workers in Calauan, Laguna. Caloric intake of household members and weight of preschool children were used as measures of nutritional status. Results show that 80% of adults and 51% of preschool children had inadequate caloric intakes. Low caloric intakes are associated with household income. Weight, however, is found to be normal despite poor caloric intakes among children. Households’ incomes are below the Laguna poverty threshold. A third of the respondents are unable to augment income through offfarm employment. Policy recommendations include information dissemination by the barangay health units about programs on proper nutrition and off-farm employment prospects for landless farm workers

Determinants of Adaptation for Slow-Onset Hazards: The Case of Rice-Farming Households Affected by Seawater Intrusion in Northern Mindanao, Philippines

This study aimed to address the knowledge gaps on adaptive capacity of rural farming households to slow-onset hazards such as seawater intrusion. It defined household‐level variables that can potentially explain adaptive capacity by using a principal component analysis and a regression model. In addition, it aimed to develop a measure-based index (MAI) to account for adaptation processes. The developed measure-based adaptation index addressed a number of shortcomings in previous studies and captured the variation in adaptation measures that rice farmers implement. The results indicated that adaptation takes place at different levels based on the propensity to adapt, the variety and diversity of adoption of various measures, the feasibility of the various measures, and the varying conditions of seawater intrusion. The research established a model of adaptation for seawater intrusion largely influenced by the rice farmers' economic capacity, which is crucial in optimizing the adaptation measures employed

Selecting safe zone for threatened species conservation: a case study of a watershed in the southern Philippines

ABSTRACTThe Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources has protocols for identifying landscapes for conservation but lacks clear guidelines for mapping areas of interest. To augment the procedure, we explored using Multi-Criteria Overlay Raster Analysis that scores the best available data from a watershed to identify potential Critical Habitat or Protected Areas. The algorithm deducts potential areas for wildlife habitation from areas that contribute to conservation conflicts, resulting in a potential ‘safe zone’ for conservation. The framework is applied to a case study in a watershed in the southern Philippines and produces a gradient score to determine the most suitable to least suitable areas for conservation. By using the best available data and local perspectives, the synthesized methodological framework was found to be useful in the decision-making process

Combining conventional and participatory approaches to identify and prioritise management and health-related constraints to smallholder pig production in San Simon, Pampanga, Philippines

Pork is the main meat produced and consumed in the Philippines. The majority of pigs are raised by smallholders who experience a range of constraints to their pig production. This study presents the findings of the first part of an overarching project that used an Ecohealth approach and aimed to improve the production and competitiveness of the smallholder pig system in an area of the Philippines. A participatory approach was embraced, combining conventional and participatory epidemiology methods followed by a stakeholder discussion. The first aim was to identify management and health-related constraints to pig production among smallholder famers in San Simon, Pampanga, Philippines. The second aim was for the project team and stakeholders to jointly prioritise activities for the immediate future to address these constraints. Key management and health-related constraints identified included inadequate water supply to pigs, particularly lactating and gestating sows, and a range of feeding-related issues. Diarrhoea was recognised as the disease syndrome of highest priority and limited record keeping meant that farmers were unable to assess the productivity and profitability of their pig farming enterprises. Actions jointly prioritised by stakeholders and the project team were: the appointment of a project coordinator within each barangay; conduct two sets of seminars, the first covering water and nutrition and the second piglet management and diarrhoea, to be delivered by technical experts but with farmer “trusted sources” also sharing their experiences; development of easily understandable leaflets and posters covering key technical information; promotion of nipple drinkers attached to five-gallon water containers and creep boxes for piglets, and conduct of a record keeping workshop with a small group of innovative farmers to develop a useful and usable tool for record keeping. The use of multiple approaches to data-gathering enabled triangulation of study findings. Without any one of these components the understanding of the pig production system would have been less complete and it is possible that the proposed actions would not have been as well-tailored to the needs of the farmers. The participatory approach, in particular the stakeholder discussion, provided the opportunity to embrace the “deciding together” and “acting together” stances of participation rather than the lower “information giving” stance, thereby giving stakeholders greater ownership of the future activities of the overarching project and beyond

Improving the productivity of the smallholder swine raising in San Simon, Pampanga, Philippines using an ecohealth approach: the importance of a communication plan

Smallholder raisers dominate pig production in the Philippines but financial setbacks due to increasing costs of living affect their income and interest in pursuing the livelihood. Using a combination of EcoHealth and participatory approaches, this study aimed to develop a communication plan that will help address problems in smallholder swine raising in San Simon, Pampanga. The main problems of the stakeholders in the municipality, which can be addressed through improved communication, were determined using the data gathered from a baseline survey, interviews, focus group discussions, and observations. Smallholder swine raisers (SSR), field implementers (i.e. provincial veterinarians, municipal agricultural technicians and barangay/village livestock coordinators), and agrivet store personnel were initially identified as the initial stakeholder groups. Sub-optimal husbandry and treatment practices, non-compliance to biosecurity protocols, lack of animal records and an opportunistic trading arrangement were identified as the main problems of the SSR. Lack of coordination within the barangay and limited information, knowledge and skills of field implementers are also problems that need to be addressed. Limitations in distributing educational materials by agrivet store personnel among SSR were identified. Strategic communication objectives, appropriate communication materials and activities will be developed at the next stage of the project to help address these problems