Measuring Household Resilience in the Climate Smart Villages in the Philippines, Myanmar and Cambodia

Resilience has traditionally been understood as a function of observable and measurable characteristics. More recently, discussions of household resilience have emphasized the need to pay attention to resilience as a set of capacities. What this paper aims to develop is a framework and a methodology for accounting both tangible and intangible characteristics found in the household, that is, measuring assets, social capital, as well as inherent personal characteristics or traits of the household decision-maker that may or may not predispose a household to be resilient. A framework from Béné (2014) was used as an analytical framework for both quantitative and qualitative studies. The quantitative study consists of surveying households (n=623) across six climate-smart villages (CSVs) in Myanmar, Cambodia, and the Philippines. Three dimensions of household resilience were identified: resilience capacities, subjective resilience, and intra-household gender relations. Each dimension of resilience is envisioned to complement the other in order to better understand household level resilience. The dimensions are consolidated in order to construct a Household Resilience Score (HRS). The study confirms that there are strong links found among relationships between the use of CSA initiatives and resilience capacities. The study also revealed that subjective resilience is equally important in understanding household resilience. There is a strong relationship in how households think they can recover from a shock in relation to specific psychosocial traits such as perseverance, self-efficacy, and conscientiousness

A Financial Analysis of Homestead Native Chicken Raising: A Climate-Smart Agriculture Option Adopted in the Province of Koh Kong, Cambodia

In 2018, the International Institute for Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) and the Cambodian Center for Study and Development for Agriculture (CEDAC) under the Asian Development Bank’s Cambodia Biodiversity Conservation Corridors Project (BCC) implemented the Community Development Funds Project in the Koh Kong and Mondul Kiri provinces which included the capacity building activity on improving native chicken production for smallholder farmers specifically, broiler production, and hatchery. This study supported by the International Research and Development Center (IDRC) analyzed the financial benefits gained by households in the Koh Kong province from this climate smart agriculture approach to small scale poultry production. When native chickens were raised for meat purposes (broiler production), the total net income received by the households amounted to USD 6,286.00 in 2019, and USD 8,003.00 in 2020. As the volume of sales increased, the average net income showed an increasing trend while the production cost per kilogram of broiler sold decreased. The study also revealed that profitability was highest among households that sold more than 100 kg of broilers compared to other households with lesser sales volume (using the Operating Profit Margin Ratio as a gauge). Hatchery operators earned a total net income of USD 10,136.00 in 2019 which increased to USD 13,604.00 in 2020. Broiler production and hatchery operation can be useful climate resilient enterprises to supplement the household income while complementing the existing economic activities of the village households such as growing crops and raising small livestock. Local food systems are enriched in the process and agrobiodiversity of small livestock is conserved through their sustainable use. This native chicken project was also gender fair and of special relevance to women in the communes

Coconut-based Systems in the Philippines: Intensification and Diversification with Climate-Smart Agriculture

To generate evidence on increasing household resilience to climate change through increased farm income while also generating social benefits, a Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) study was undertaken in 2021 by the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) with support from the International Research and Development Center (IDRC). For the Philippine component of the study, the study determined the financial and social benefits of raising native pigs and planting fruit trees and black pepper gained by the households from Guinayangan, Quezon and Ivisan, Capiz. The combination of planting fruit trees and black pepper as well as native pig production are viable when they are integrated with the main sources of livelihood of the villages of Himbubulo Weste and Magsaysay (Guinayangan). The study showed that the said villages will continue to financially benefit from the CSA interventions despite facing possible threats in the market. The funds invested by the community members in implementing the CSA interventions are expected to be recovered within three years after 2020. Diversifying farm production should be encouraged and practiced by more households as it serves as a cushion to minimize loss of livelihood for the family, and could help households maintain a steady and reliable income even if one of the crops failed or incurred losses

Financial and environmental benefits from fruit trees in Myanmar’s central dry zone: Case Study from Htee Pu Climate Smart Village

The village of Htee Pu in the Township of Nyaung-U, Mandalay Region suffers from drought, water scarcity, infertile soil, and high ambient temperature being part of Myanmar’s central rry zone area. One of the Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) technologies and practices introduced by the International Institute for Rural Reconstruction (IIRR), Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) Southeast Asia, International Development Research Center (IDRC) and the Community Development Association in the village was fruit tree-based agroforestry. This study estimated the potential financial and environmental benefits that can be derived from the CSA option. The study revealed that the potential market value of the fruits harvested would amount to USD 1.07 Million from 2021 to 2035 or an average of USD 71,072/year. The production of fruits represents the provisioning ecosystem service of the fruit trees. Per household, the average financial benefit could amount to USD 47,398 over the 15-year period or USD 3,160 per year. In addition, the fruit trees would be able to provide a regulating ecosystem service by being able to potentially sequester 5,682 tCO2 per year with an estimated value of USD 47,725. Fruit production and carbon sequestration have a combined economic value of USD 118,797 per year. There is an upsurge in global interest in ecosystem restoration and the rehabilitation of degraded landscapes. The findings of this study are relevant to environmental agencies working to stabilize the central Dry Zone of Myanmar as including dryland horticulture and small farm agroforestry will benefit not only the local environment but also the people living in the area by making fruits available for their nourishment and livelihood. Development and agricultural agencies, on the other hand, can include CSA as a pathway for addressing degradation on small farms and associated landscapes

Cost-Benefit Analysis of Native Pigs as a Climate-Smart Agriculture Option in the Philippines

The Climate-Smart Village (CSV) approach is one of the initiatives that was developed to address the impact of climate change on marginalized rural households, and one of the climate-smart agriculture (CSA) options implemented in the Philippines was raising native pigs. A cost-benefit analysis (CBA) was conducted to assess the financial benefits of raising native pigs by determining the net income generated by the village households. A total of 52 households from Guinyangan, Quezon and Ivisan, Capiz were interviewed as survey participants while, village and municipal officials acted as key informants. Our findings showed that majority of the households surveyed generated positive net income in raising native pigs. However, 2020 profits decreased possibly due to the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study also revealed the reliance of producers in commercial feeds instead of maximizing the available forage; keeping of livestock as inventories resulting to additional costs; and the lack of record keeping practices and absence of a price monitoring system causing the producers to be dependent on the prices offered by the buyers. Thus, providing education and training support on monitoring and assessing costs of raising pigs, and marketing assistance would be valuable to the households

Microcredit and savings associations for building rural household resilience: A case study of selected village development fund and savings groups in Koh Kong and Mondul Kiri, Cambodia

This case study was conducted to generate insights on the financial sustainability of selected VDFSGs and to gather information on members’ perceptions of the usefulness of these institutions in coping with household and climate change-related shocks or stresses. Financial sustainability was analyzed by conducting a detailed financial analysis of six selected VDFSGs to determine the sufficiency of interest payments as revenue to cover total costs as well as to evaluate loan recovery and equity build- up. Members’ perception of the usefulness of VDFSGs in helping them to cope with and adjust to family and climate change-related shocks/stresses was determined by conducting Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) among selected representatives of VDFSG members. Useful feedback of the financial performance and areas for improvement were generated. The Pu Hong, Pu Chhob, and Prek Svay VDFSGs were considered financially sustainable based on the results of the study. The study also revealed that the VDFSGs are considered most useful when there are crop failures due to extreme weather events and when there are medical emergencies in the household. The FGD participants and key informants expressed confidence that they are in a better position to cope with their vulnerabilities due to the presence of a VDFSG in their village

Pathways to Women’s Empowerment in the Promotion of Climate Smart Agriculture in the Philippines, Myanmar, and Cambodia

Climate change is not gender neutral. Women are a vulnerable population within a vulnerable population. Far from an equalizing event, climate change risks and disasters often magnify and aggravate existing inequalities in society, including gender inequality. National governments and the international development community recognized that in order to strengthen and accelerate their goals for agricultural development, economic growth and food security they need to build the contributions that women make and take steps to alleviate barriers to women empowerment. A quantitative-qualitative study has been undertaken to investigate how the promotion of climate smart agriculture is contributing to women empowerment within the climate smart villages (CSVs) in Myanmar, Cambodia and the Philippines. The analysis of survey results (n=121) showed that the majority of the women farmers opt to make decisions jointly with their husbands in activities related to agriculture production. Women’s participation in the decision-making process are related to decisions on what crops or crop varieties to plant. Women are more engaged in the decision making related to small livestock such as goats, pigs and chickens, they have gained more experience and knowledge and are able to provide good suggestions regarding livestock. Increased income is a powerful measure of women’s economic empowerment. Across the six CSVs, there is a significant difference in the perceived increase in incomes. The impact of women’s increased income has been equally positive at both the household and community level, with increased involvement in household and production decision-making and increased and more active participation in community activities. Household borrowing and saving have traditionally been the normative responsibility of women. This finding is supported by focus group discussions (n=113) in the CSVs where women are designated as budget planner and keeper of the household income. The study also indicated that the promotion of homestead gardens and small livestock buffered the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic to the households as these activities provided them with food, enabled them to share or sell vegetables to their neighbors, and reserved food for extended lockdowns

Participatory Vulnerability Assessments in support of Community Based Adaption

This publication is derived from a real life exercise in applying participatory vulnerability methods in 11 villages/barangays in the Municipality of Guinayangan , Quezon, Philippines. These villages were among those designated as climate smart villages, under the CCAFS global initiative to set up climate smart villages as platforms for climate-smart agriculture (CSA). The project in the Philippines was entitled “Generating an evidence base for upscaling local adaptation thorough Climate Smart Agriculture “(P56). This compilation includes tools and methods, facilitators guides and the actual outputs from the 9 villages. These Participatory Vulnerability Assessment (PVA) studies encompass a wider range of components (such as livelihood analysis, and seasonal charts) beyond what is included in desk based, climate vulnerability studies. Gender is prominently featured in these proposed methods and in the derived outputs. These PVA studies, which typically last three days per village, engaged and involved local communities and local government representatives, bringing their perspectives to bear on the problem analysis, thus distinguishing itself from other efforts that rely primarily on secondary data. Data derived from community studies however is ideally also complemented by secondary data derived from desk based studies. Such assessments are regularly revisited and updated. These methods have since already been shared with the Philippines Department of Agriculture and used in trainings and capacity building efforts of the Department of Agriculture Climate Resilient Agriculture Office (DA CRAO) and Agricultural Training Institute (DA ATI)