Philippines

The Australian aid program in the Philippines aims to improve the prospects for economic growth, poverty reduction and national stability (Australia–Philippines Development Assistance Strategy 2007–11). ACIAR’s support for this strategy comes through the third objective in the strategy: ‘Improved economic opportunity for rural people through increases in productivity, access to markets, better infrastructure and growth of small to medium enterprises in target provinces’. Specifically, ACIAR’s Philippines program is designed to assist in increasing productivity, marketability and international competitiveness for Philippine agricultural products. Underpinning this improved competitiveness is the need to enhance agricultural productivity through more-effective extension processes and greater responsiveness to market opportunities.

In 2008 the Philippines became a net food importer, having been a net exporter in the early 1980s. Being a mountainous country, there is relatively little new land suitable for expanding rice areas, and productivity growth in existing areas in recent years has been low. In addition, the population continues to grow at >2% per year (expected population will rise from 94 million to 101 million over the next 8 years). While rice production remains a dominant national focus, there is increasing pressure to diversify and produce a range of other food, livestock, fisheries and income crops on increasingly marginal land in the uplands.

ACIAR will continue to support research for development to improve market competitiveness of products from aquaculture, horticulture and livestock enterprises. The emphasis on higher value products and market competitiveness aims to address food security by supporting research that would provide smallholder farmers and traders with increased cash income, enabling the purchase of staple foods.

While ACIAR’s priority is supporting research for development to increase the prospects for wider adaptation and adoption of research outcomes, the Philippines program also engages with a wide range of local ‘next-user’ partners (such as local government units, NGOs, commercial agribusiness companies and farmer community groups). This includes catalysing stronger linkages between regionally based delivery organisations, and central research organisations and policymakers.

Under the current medium-term research strategy, ACIAR’s Philippines program addresses the following priorities:

Increasing the market competitiveness of Philippine horticultural products:

• Economic analysis of marketing chains and channels for perishables, and building of supply chains to improve alliances between suppliers, processors, institutional buyers and marketers
  
• Improvement in postharvest handling, quality, and sanitary and phytosanitary standards for focal tropical fruits and vegetables
  
• Development of disease, pest and nutrient management strategies for a range of fruit and vegetable crops
  
• Development of locally suitable protected cropping technologies
  
• Selection and clonal propagation of new high-quality mango germplasm

Competitive and sustainable fisheries and aquaculture production

• Development and field testing of mariculture-based strategies to provide livelihoods and enhance locally managed fisheries
  
• Assessment of the impacts of aquaculture and mariculture on the community livelihoods of small-scale fishers, and development of better management tools

Land and water resource management for profitable and sustainable agriculture:

• Development of more-comprehensive methods for characterisation of watersheds to assess vulnerability and requirements for developing more-productive and sustainable farming systems in watersheds
  
• Use of biophysical, social and economic information to develop integrated soil, water, crop and nutrient management practices that are potentially more sustainable, adoptable and profitable
  
• Assessment of policy, regulatory, social and economic constraints to the adoption of ‘best management practices’, and analysis of approaches for managing resource-use conflicts

Addressing policy and technical constraints to improving returns from low-input pig production systems:

• Analysis of laboratory and field diagnostic resources to investigate and control respiratory disease of pigs in smallholder and commercial-scale enterprises, and development of new capacity based on surveillance and outbreak investigations.