AGRI 31 - Philippine Agriculture

Sustainable Development of Agriculture

the balancing of potential tradeoffs between economic and environmental objectives.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

also known as the Global Goals; a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity.

Middle Stone Age (Historical Background)

period (~8000 BC) characterized by food collection.

New Stone Age (Historical Background)

period (~7000 BC) marked by the raising of crops.

Bronze Age

period (~3500 BC) marked by the rise of centers of agriculture.

Iron Age

period (~1000 BC) marked by early development of cultural management practices.

Discovery of the New World

event (1st century AD onward, notably 14th century AD) that led to the diffusion of agriculture across regions.

Agricultural revolution/Scientific method of agriculture

period (14th–17th century) that advanced plant anatomy, plant systematics, and genetics/breeding.

Technological changes in agriculture (20th c.)

developments such as new plant cultivars, improved crop nutrition, and improved irrigation techniques.

Green Revolution

a period (1960s–70s) marked by the use of High-Yielding Varieties (HYVs) and high agricultural inputs to boost productivity.

HYVs (High-Yielding Varieties)

crop varieties bred to produce significantly higher yields.

Productivity Decline (1980s)

decline in agricultural productivity attributed to land conversions, soil degradation, climate change, chemical pollution, eroding biodiversity, and water distribution problems.

Alternative Agriculture (1990s)

farming approaches emphasizing crop rotation, minimum tillage, alternative/integrated pest management, nutrient management, crop management, crop improvement, water management, soil health conservation, and nutrient cycling.

CGIAR Centers

international agricultural research centers associated with the Green Revolution era.

Biotechnology and GMOs

21st-century developments involving genetic modification technologies applied to agriculture.

Pre-Colonial stage (Philippine agriculture)

era characterized by subsistence agriculture; Indo-Malayan migrants brought wet rice agriculture; slash-and-burn (shifting) agriculture was practiced; main crops were rice, corn, banana, coconut, gabi, citrus, ginger, and clove; no agricultural specialization; private land ownership did not exist; absence of surpluses; limited foreign trade; food scarcity in some settlements.

Slash and burn agriculture (shifting agriculture)

a farming method involving cutting and burning vegetation to clear land for planting, then moving to a new area once soil fertility declines.

Colonial stage (Philippine agriculture)

era of increased agricultural production and surpluses; plant introductions (mulberry, cacao, wheat, cucumber, cantaloupe, coffee, new cereal and pea varieties); establishment of the Hacienda system; technological innovations introduced in production and processing.

Hacienda system

a large landed-estate system introduced during the colonial period for agricultural production.

Post-War stage (Philippine agriculture)

era of introduction of technological improvement; establishment of IRRI in the 1960s; development and expansion of international agriculture; exports of coconut by-products, mango, banana, sugar, and pineapple.

IRRI (International Rice Research Institute)

international research institute established in the Philippines in the 1960s focused on rice research.

Tenurial System

the system defining land tenure and ownership arrangements, defined during the Spanish regime.

TNCs (Transnational Corporations)

large corporations operating across national borders, referenced in the American regime's intensified free trade era.

Land Registration Act

a law from the American colonial period concerning the registration of land titles.

Land Reform Act / Agricultural Land Reform Code

post-independence laws aimed at redistributing agricultural land.

CARP (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program)

a Philippine land reform program implemented during the Green Revolution period.

GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade)

an international trade agreement associated with globalization and trade liberalization.

AFMA (Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act)

a Philippine law associated with the globalization era of agriculture.

Trade Liberalization

the reduction or removal of trade barriers, part of the globalization era affecting Philippine agriculture.

Cropping intensity (cropping index)

a measure (1.26 cited) of how many crops are grown on a piece of land within a given period.

Land-man ratio

the ratio of agricultural land available per person (about 0.20 ha in the Philippines vs. a world average of 0.28 ha).

Heterogeneous farmers

farmers classified as commercial, semi-commercial, subsistence, and landless farm workers.

Small-scale commodity production

the Philippine agricultural pattern dominated by farmers cultivating an average area of 1.5 ha, including poor rice farmers working on large landholdings.

Monoculture

the practice of growing a single crop repeatedly on the same land, cited as an essential characteristic of Philippine agriculture.

Middleman-mediated marketing

a marketing system where intermediaries (middlemen) mediate the sale of agricultural produce, often reducing farmers' income.

Component technologies

improved farming technologies/inputs; the lecture notes low adoption rates of these among Philippine farmers.

Strengths of Philippine Agriculture

availability of expertise, basic institutions in place, rich natural resources, and technologies at hand or forthcoming.

Weaknesses of Philippine Agriculture

physical (climatic stresses, soil erosion), biological (insects, diseases, weeds), and socioeconomic (low family income, inadequate support services/incentives, middlemen-mediated marketing) constraints.

Opportunities of Philippine Agriculture

diverse agro-environment enabling diverse cropping systems; wide range of soils and climate for growing different crops; whole-year-round growing period (sunlight 11–13 hrs, temperature 24–32°C, rainfall 2,400–4,000 mm/yr).

Threats of Philippine Agriculture

population growth, globalization, weak governance, deteriorating natural resource endowments, brain drain, and land conversion.

Population Density

the number of people per unit area (405 people/km² cited for the Philippines).

Arable Land

land suitable for growing crops that require seasonal cultivation (4.936 M ha cited for the Philippines).

Permanent Crop Land

land under crops that occupy the land for a long period and need not be replanted after each harvest (4.225 M ha cited).

Permanent Meadows/Pastures

land permanently used for growing herbaceous forage crops for grazing.