The Site:
The Municipality of Lantapan is wholly contained in the Manupali watershed of Bukidnon province (Fig 1). It has a total land area of 35465 hectares, of which 60% is devoted to agriculture while 40% is for forests. Its elevation ranges from 320 to 2938 masl, and its climate falls under Type IV climatic conditions with evenly distributed rainfall throughout the year, but with indistinct dry and wet seasons. The maximum annual rainfall recorded between 1987 and 2005 was 2522.4 mm while the mean annual rainfall was 1,500 mm. About 70% of the area has slopes greater than 18%. The watershed’s soils is generally well-drained with clayey surface and subsoil horizons, slightly to moderately acidic with low organic matter and high P fixation capacity, and have low capacity to retain nutrients. The total population recorded in 2007 was 51,406, with a land density 1.44 people per hectare. The ethnic groupings include 25% Talaandig, 14% Bukidnon, 51% Dumagats (lowland migrants), and 10% Ifugaos from Benguet Province in northern Luzon. The Talaandig is the most dominant indigenous peoples’ group in Lantapan having claimed the municipality as their territorial seat.
Lantapan is a river valley located between the biodiversity rich Mt. Kitanglad Range Natural Park (MKRNP) on its northern side and the Manupali river on its southern border. Several rivers, creeks and springs drain from MKRNP across the intensively cultivated agricultural lands of Lantapan to the Manupali River. The river runs into a network of irrigation canals currently operated by the Bukidnon Irrigation Management Office (BIMO). The whole system ultimately drains into the Pulangui reservoir that supports the biggest hydropower facility in Mindanao operated by the National Power Corporation (NPC).
Lantapan is rich in natural resources and has favorable climatic conditions, which attracted migrant farmers and the agribusiness sector. Majority of the people have since been dependent on farming for their livelihood. However, agribusiness started to dominate agricultural activities in 2000. Corporate banana farms and swine and poultry production stimulated economic growth, and were key drivers of land use change in the last 10 years.
The Issues:
Lantapan has an agricultural-based economy. About 90% of the households have been dependent on smallholder farming. However, this changed since Mt Kitanglad Agri-Ventures Inc. (MKAVI) and Dole Skyland-Philippines, two large corporations for highland banana production, started to operate in late 1990s. The on-going shift to large-scale commercial agriculture by these corporations and rich farmers pushed the smallholders to farm in much smaller plots in less productive and more environmentally-fragile areas. This pattern of agricultural expansion involves the replacement of forest and permanent crops by annual crops, and the spread of annual cropping in high altitude and steeply sloping areas. This causes dramatic increase in soil erosion rates in humid tropical areas, causing further land degradation. As a result, the extent of silt in the ManRIS has become more serious in the last decade. The irrigation system is also unable to reach its intended service area, due to water shortage especially during dry months, which is caused either by low dry season streamflow or the low storage capacity of the system due to high silt deposit. Similarly, the NPC has over the years, experienced power generation crisis due to the poor conditions of the Pulangui reservoir. The extent of silt deposit is enormous, leaving the plant inefficient to produce the expected energy output and a shorter life span of the dam.
However, numerous farmers in Lantapan have adopted various soil and water conservation technologies. ICRAF’s database (2002) shows that 13% of the total farm households (5,500 in 2001) adopted conservation technologies. The total area applied with conservation technologies was almost 1,230 hectares representing 11% of the total farmed area. If conservation technologies are practiced expansively, there is potential for the farming system to become stable, with accrued environmental benefits, for example, soil erosion control, maintenance of water quality and quantity, as well as biodiversity. However, if the farmers depending on these resources continue to exploit them, their actions will definitely have an impact to downstream communities such as BIMO, NPC and the agri-business sector in Valencia City, whose economic activities depend on the availability of natural resources, particularly water.
The Rewards:
Several incentive policies at the national level exist, among others, ‘usufructury’ rights in Community-Based Forest Management (CBFM) areas. Lantapan has thousands of hectares under Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ (DENR) CBFM and Integrated Social Forestry (ISF) programs. In addition, the Local Government of Lantapan has also enacted a policy in 2001 that enables the provision of incentives to farmers adopting contour farming, although the implementation of this policy remains weak. The potential of these types of policy incentives have not been fully explored. Government efforts are often lacking, if not weak, due to identifiable factors such as limited knowledge on various mechanisms that worked in other areas, and the lack of honest and credible brokers. The Lantapan case provides ample scope for exploring mechanisms that has worked elsewhere. The conditions necessary to begin this process are in place, such as the growing interest of stakeholders expressed during consultation meetings and dialogues, and their willingness to collaborate in the current initiative.
In 2007, a collaborative initiative among stakeholders in the Manupali watershed was established, but it seeks to further collaborate with the ‘experts’ in the area of PES in developing a viable mechanism in the context of the Manupali watershed. It seeks technical advice on specific activities, and also opens opportunities for cross learning among PES sites in the country and in the region, through various forms of knowledge sharing and training activities. The strong presence of ICRAF in this site is an advantage—it can facilitate both formal and informal knowledge-sharing sessions and or advocacy work to reach out to policy. Funded by ICRAF-TULSEA project, the Provincial Government of Bukidnon and the Municipal Government of Lantapan implemented six different appraisal tools in Manupali watershed in 2009-2010. One of which is the Rapid Hydrological Appraisal (RHA), which aimed to assess the current condition of the watershed. The results provide valuable data that can be used in developing PES mechanisms in the site. The Bukidnon Environment and Natural Resource Office (BENRO) is keen on leading the process. Parallel to this, the Municipal Government of Lantapan enacted an incentive-based policy in 2009, where all forms of support from their regular and special projects are provided to deserving farmers and farmer organizations as rewards. The objective is to encourage the adoption and investments on sustainable farming systems, and ensure the provision of environmental services in the watershed.
Aside from water, the Manupali watershed also provides landscape beauty. Every year, thousands of visitors climb the summits of Kitanglad and Dulang-dulang (claimed as the second highest mountain in the Philippines next to Mt. Apo), through three routes (Intavas in Impasugong, Dalwangan in Malaybalay City and Sungco in Lantapan). Climbers pay entrance fees to the DENR, and obtain pre-and-prior informed consent (PPIC) from the tribal community. Recently, DENR expressed their interest to share a portion of the fees to the village governments where these routes are located, which the latter can use for maintaining the aesthetic value of the mountains.
The geographic location and accessibility of the Manupali watershed to major development areas in Mindanao makes it more important for the overall economic development of the region. When farmers managed their farms in a sustainable manner, private benefits accrue, in terms of improved production and income, thus alleviating poverty. Diversification of livelihood strategies through farming systems improvement enables farmers to be more resilient to shocks and adaptive to economic and environmental stresses. Consequently, public benefits accrue as a result of consistent adaptation of best-bet farming practices. Diverse and complex agroforestry farms in intensively cultivated areas in the watershed can reduce run-off and sedimentation in waterways, significantly reducing siltation of the Manupali River and the Pulangi reservoir further down south of Manupali. Additionally, agroforestry farms developed in areas close to the buffer zone can provide a habitat for wildlife, and can form a corridor for biodiversity towards the protected area (MKNRP). The latter, which is the source of the major tributaries of the Manupali River is protected, ensuring continuous supply of water and biodiversity, as well as maintaining the landscape beauty.
The Partners
• Local Government of Lantapan (Mayor Godofredo Balansag, Councilor Leonard Hope Labial, Engr. Juliet Devibar, and Mr. Bayani Santos)
• Bukidnon Environment and Natural Resource Office (BENRO) (Ms. Cecille Egnar – cecille_egnar@yahoo.com)
• Bukidnon Watershed Protection and Development Council – Technical Advisory Committee (BWPDC-TAC)
• Manupali River Irrigation System (ManRIS) (Engr. Mario Descallar and Engr. Gaudencio Ramos)
• National Power Corporation – Pulangui IV (NPC) (Engr. Ericsson Mendoza)
Contact:
Caroline Duque-Piñon
Email: ronnienite@yahoo.com
Fax/Ph: +63883581300
Emma Abasolo, Phd
Email: e.abasolo@irri.org
Mobile: +639277289244
References:
Catacutan, D and C Duque-Piñon. 2008. Profile: Lantapan RUPES-Learning Site. Issue No. 1. Bukidnon, Philippines: World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF).
Catacutan, D and C Duque-Piñon. 2009. Voices of Water Users in Manupali wateshed. Issue No. 2. Bukidnon, Philippines: World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF).
Links:
BENRO