The need to build upon farmer practice and knowledge: reminders from selected upland conservation projects and policies

On-farm research and development projects in SE Asia's uplands have addressed the problem of ecosystem degradation. However, farmer adoption of land conservation technologies has generally either not resulted or not been sustainable. This paper examines 4 agroforestry projects and 2 policy approaches formulated to protect upland resources. The projects evaluated were: the Upland Agriculture and Conservation Project of the Government of Indonesia, in central-east Java, which involved terracing and alley cropping with various plant species and livestock; the Allah Valley Watershed Development Project (BFD) at Lake Sebu, South Cotabato, Philippines, in which Leucaena leucocephala was planted in strips in farmers' fields to control soil erosion; a World Neighbors Project at Cebu, Philippines, involving contour line establishment with an A-frame, terrace construction, and the establishment of legume trees and forage grasses; and the Forest Development and Watershed Management Project at Luang Prabang in northern Lao, which involved contour tillage, terracing and fruit tree and forest establishment. The policy approaches evaluated were: the Malagasy government's ban on pasture burning, which has been ineffective; and policies in the Philippines which have led from an unsuccessful prohibition of settlement in public domain forests in the 1960-70s, to a granting of land leases in exchange for improved farmer management (which also had problems), and attempted implementation of a national Integrated Social Forestry Program in the early 1980s. Lessons learned or reemphasized are described and discussed, and it is concluded that overall variable scale diagnosis and design that is unbiased towards pre-selected technologies is required. Lessons learned also contributed to farmer-participatory agroforestry research being conducted by IRRI in an upland rice-based system at Claveria, Philippines, which is described.