Agricultural intensification, local labor markets, and deforestation in the Philippines (original) (raw)
Related papers
2001
We measure impacts of agricultural intensification on environmental outcomes in the Philippines. We develop models of labor demand outside a forest zone and labor allocation and asset accumulation inside a forest zone to study household response to technical change. Using household data from 1995-2000 we estimate a series of dynamic econometric models to trace the impacts of irrigation development to changes in incomes and activities at the forest margin. * This paper has been prepared for the selected paper session of the AAEA, Chicago 5-8 Aug 2001. Ricky Yao and Chuck Zelek provided valuable research assistance.
Deforestation in the Philippines: An Economic Assessment of Government Policy Responses
In the case of a land constraint economy such as the Philippines, the efficient allocation of land to its various uses is essential. This constraint is further intensified by the growing population and increased demand for commercial land. The process of land classification is only the first step in managing land resources. A computable general equilibrium (CGE) model based on ORANI, a multi-sectoral model belonging to the Johansen class of CGE models was employed to ascertain the economy-wide effects of the reduction in forestry production due to conservation efforts. The paper also attempts to show the relative contribution of population growth and trade policies on deforestation in the case of the Philippines. The study evaluated some of the forestry policies recommended by the Philippine Master Plan for Forestry Development (1991Development ( -2015. In theory, the policies formulated would be viable and effective. The problem lies in the implementation especially of reforestation activities, which is the core of the Master Plan. The Philippine forests require intensive regeneration programs to revive the domestic logging industry and conservation programs to protect sensitive areas as well as the establishment of tree plantations. The study evaluated four policies from the Master Plan, namely the implementation of selective logging, imposition of stumpage tax on the forestry sector, lowering of forestry discount rates and the establishment of set-aside areas. The study found that moving into a selective logging regime and the establishment of set-aside areas would achieve forest conservation with little reduction in economic growth. Moreover, the results show that (domestic) population per se would not significantly increase deforestation. Whilst, export taxes are ineffective tools in reducing deforestation, trade liberalisation policies are beneficial to the economy as a whole.
Economics of Upland Resource Depletion: Shifting Cultivation in the Philippines
1988
This paper provides a systematic investigation of agricultural systems practiced in the uplands by starting with a formal treatment of the shifting cultivation problem. The optimum rate of use of forested land from society’s viewpoint and from the individual uplander’s viewpoint, given traditional choices between timber production and agricultural production through slash-and-burn farming is likewise investigated. The study explains swidden
Forest Policy and Economics, 2022
Forest products have become scarce for local communities in the Philippines. After decades of severe deforestation, a net gain in forest area has only been observed in recent years for the first time. This paper seeks to broaden the understanding of forest livelihood relationships at the turning point of a forest transition trajectory. Based on 993 household surveys from 10 distinct research sites, we use Hierarchical Cluster Analysis to identify six distinct livelihood strategies (LS): remittances-based, livestock-based, crop farming-based, business-oriented, natural resource-based, and wage-based strategies. The highest number of households belongs to the wage-based cluster, which also shows the highest total income. Forest-related incomes only account for small shares of total income for the vast majority of households, although most households collect limited quantities of forest products for domestic use. Nevertheless, one cluster, which includes 12.4% of the sample, generates the largest shares of their income from extractive activities like harvesting forest products and fishing. The households relying most strongly on natural resources in our study sites are also the ones with the lowest total income. Our finding implies that future reforestation policies have to put a special focus on incorporating livelihood benefits for local communities. This should go beyond short-term payments for activities such as tree planting and enable the rural households to derive long-term impacts for human well-being and poverty alleviation. Because most of the forest products reported by our surveyed households were collected for domestic use, they did not contribute much to total household income. This indicates a potential for improving rural income, if forest-product value chains at the smallholder level are improved by future policy interventions.
Poverty and environmental damage in Philippine agriculture: Do trade policies matter?
2005
Until recently, it was commonly assumed that most upland farmers are motivated only by the goal of meeting their subsistence needs. Their subsistence production decisions are supposedly only indirectly subject to market forces and thereby place them beyond the reach of most economic policies. This belief, if correct, has important implications on the design of programs aimed at economic development or environmental protection. Without market instruments, upland poverty alleviation efforts or programs to address the protection of forests, soils or watersheds must rely on direct interventions by government agencies, development projects or nongovernment organizations (NGOs). Such interventions are at the core of most resource conservation strategies in the Philippines and other tropical
Forest based agricultural systems in the tropics are being opened up to international trade at an unprecedented rate. This is the case of tropical agriculture in Mexico under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which is also having significant impacts on the decentralized land use decisions of small-scale farmers and on the natural resource base on which they depend. This paper develops a bioeconomic model of a typical forest-land based farming system that is integrated with the non-farm labour sector, as typically found in tropical regions. The data used to generate the simulations were gathered in two communities of Yucatan (Mexico) in 1998-2000. Through a systemdynamics framework, the agro-ecological and farming economic subsystems are integrated and the current situation of price liberalization that is negatively affecting soil capital and income levels is compared to a scenario that precludes an «optimal path to extinction» through careful policy intervention...