Soil Fertility Matters
A Newsletter on Soil Fertility and Fallow Management in the SEA
Information Support Needs and Initiatives
Information on Soil Fertility: Does It Really Matter?
T
he past decade has witnessed an upsurge in interest in the poor living in the sloping hillylands and on forest margins of Southeast Asia. Considerable attention is being given to the issues of climate change, watershed management, governance and biodiversity conservation: all major factors influencing livelihoods and resource use in the uplands.However, one component that still does not receive the level and quality of attention it deserves is soil fertility in the uplands. Some view this as a narrow, technical dimension. This neglect is seen at many levels: policy makers, donors, academics and practitioners in civil society and governments. One relatively recent, but rare, milestone was the conference on fallow management in Bogor and the subsequent work in the Philippines and Vietnam (see other articles in this issue). The conference held in Bogor focused on indigenous strategies for shifting cultivation in Southeast Asia.
This newsletter is a similar effort to achieve the same goal aimed at drawing attention to soil fertility and fallow management. By rebuilding soil fertility using indigenous and/or improved systems, dependence on external inputs can be reduced and the problem of marginal, usually unpredictable, returns from farming in the uplands can be partially addressed.
This first issue of the newsletter and the subsequent issues will present a diversity of perspectives on soil fertility and fallow management. Other information-related products are envisaged to complement efforts to improve informal networking and knowledge management among key players to bring more attention, discussion and action on soil fertility and fallow management issues.
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Eduardo E. Queblatin
I
mproving soil fertility and fallows in the uplands is not as glamorous as working in, say, biodiversity and climate change. Yet, the topic is very close to the hearts of those whose day-to-day decisions matter most in the uplands where government presence is hardly felt. These decision makers would be the upland farmers and swidden agriculturists.How do we help our farmer decision makers address soil fertility management issues in the uplands? How can we expand his (and her) menu of options? Who can serve as channels of information support assistance?
We can start with those who are already trying to do something about the concern — the service providers. The immediate circle would include individuals and organizations already involved in studying and promoting sustainable agriculture and community forestry and those concerned with preserving indigenous knowledge or IK. We must also work with the wider circle comprising of government extension officers involved in promoting soil fertility management and even local government officials concerned with helping their own farmers improve their living conditions.
What are the agenda? First, there is a need to help build among service providers awareness of and interest on the dynamic nature of fallow management in upland farming systems. Second, almost concurrently, there is a need to develop and disseminate tools that enable service providers help farmers to have wider choices. These choices would revolve around enhancing good soil fertility management (including fallows management) practices. It would also deal with challenges faced by settled upland farmers who are already dependent on external fertilizer inputs.
At present, two major avenues for awareness building and enabling of tasks must be undertaken: through networking initiatives and through field projects.
Networks
Networks refer to largely informal and voluntary initiatives to share information resources among one another. This is critical, considering that limited investment resources for studying and promoting the subject matter must be optimized. A key challenge among networkers is the ability to sustain the enthusiasm and energy of its contributors in the long run. This is true especially of networks that do not receive any external funding for their activities.
National or sub-national networks seem to have a better chance to achieve sustainability because the proximity between network members allows the exchange of services and benefits beyond that of information sharing.
Field Projects
Field projects, on the other hand, refer to predominantly public sector projects that aim to address poverty and natural resources problems in the uplands. They are usually the one of the very few sources of public investment in the uplands. They are usually run by national government agencies, providing a range of benefits — roads, extension work, water supply, etc.
Sometimes, the challenge usually encountered in projects is how to utilize too much resources over very short project periods. In the rush to complete project targets, there is a tendency to overlook the significance of indigenous local knowledge in the design and implementation of research and extension programs. This is also partly explained by the lack of exposure and appreciation of the value of fallow management by project staff whose background is mainly on lowland agriculture or forest protection.
Joint work
The International Center for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) are joining hands to help existing networks do a better job at promoting awareness and resource sharing to push soil fertility and fallow management practices. The joint work also aims to help selected upland projects acquire practical tools to better understand and take advantage of local knowledge resources in the design of their farm assistance programs. This ICRAF-IFAD initiative is part of a project entitled Technical and Institutional Innovations to Improve Participatory Development of the Upland Poor in Asia.
In 1997, more than 300 practitioners from the around the world convened in Bogor to review these ongoing efforts in the tropics of Asia. Subsequently, practitioners and researchers in the Philippines and Vietnam convened their own national level sessions and agreed to promote networking among others.
The joint ICRAF-IFAD project plans to help these and other networks in a small way by providing information support services to help reinvigorate and sustain active networking among practitioners. Part of this information support will be initially provided through a joint agreement between ICRAF and the University of the philippines Los Baņos (UPLB).
This newsletter would be one form of information support. Other information services would include an electronic database of fallow systems and practitioners and prototype information, education and communication campaign materials.
The joint program also aims to provide technical services to 11 IFAD- and ICRAF-assisted upland programs in Asia. Examples of upland programs would include the Ha Giang Development Program in Vietnam, the Participatory Integrated Development for Rainfed Areas Project in East Java, and the Western Mindanao Commodity Initiatives Project in the Philippines. These services will include helping project staff to make better use of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) approaches to diagnose farmer problems.
It is hoped that the diagnosis would then lead to the identification of beneficial local practices for fallow management and soil fertility improvement and include them in the design of on-site research for improved farming practices.
To further promote widespread interest and to encourage initiative, we would also like to help identify, recognize and share promising field practices & innovations made by extension staff and researchers in promoting fallows and soil fertility management in the uplands. Some of these can be incorporated into ongoing and new research and development undertakings and policy formulation. We invite our readers to share their own experiences on this subject through this newsletter or through the electronic discussion list that the UPLB Information Support Project is providing (please see article in the Announcement section).
ÐMr. Ed Queblatin is currently the Natural Resource Management Specialist of the ICRAF Southeast Asian Regional Programme. For more information related to this article, please email <ed_q@laguna.net>; or <equeblatin@yahoo.com>;
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Information Support for Soil Fertility and Fallow
Management
Launched in Los Baņos, Philippines
Damasa B. Magcale-Macandog and Richard T. Yao
The University of the Philippines Los Baņos Foundation, Inc. (UPLB-FI), in collaboration with the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF), launched the Interim Information Support for the Southeast Asia Regional Network on Soil Fertility and Improved Fallow Management last 16 September 2001. This information support project provides an avenue for information exchange on soil fertility and improved fallow management for Southeast Asian tropical upland areas. Jointly funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and ICRAF, the project plans to publish newsletters, catalogues, and databases for researchers, extensionists, and practitioners concerned on soil fertility and fallow management of the upland areas in Southeast Asia.
Dr. Damasa B. Magcale-Macandog, assistant professor at the Institute of Biological Sciences, UPLB, heads this information support project. She is also the country coordinator of the Fallow Management Network - Philippines (FMN-P), and is assisted by Mr. Richard T. Yao, research associate.
The project intends to be active in the following arenas:
Linkaging
The project currently coordinates with the Indigenous Fallow Management (IFM) Network based at ICRAF regional headquarters in Bogor, Indonesia. The project has links with FMN-P, the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development (CIIFAD) and the University of the Philippines Los Baņos (UPLB). Recently, the project has conducted a round-table-discussion with the Los Baņos Science Community (LBSC) which focused on information sharing and the continuity of the project’s thrusts after its completion. The project also aims to establish links with individuals, organizations and institutions around the world concerned on soil fertility and fallow management in Southeast Asia.
Publications
The project believes that providing the needed information and avenues for exchanging soil fertility and fallow management ideas will build strong linkages among researchers, extensionists, educators, and policy makers concerned about the fragile uplands of Southeast Asia. The project will periodically publish a newsletter on soil fertility and fallow management in the uplands. Poster series featuring indigenous fallow systems in several Southeast Asian countries will be published by the project.
To enable the project to accomplish its goal, readers are requested to fill-out the attached two-page survey questionnaire inserted in this newsletter and mail it back using the attached envelope. It would only take 7 minutes to complete. The same questionnaire can also be downloaded from the internet <http://www.geocities.com/fallownet>, by clicking on “Survey Questionnaire”. The electronic version of this newsletter and other information on soil fertility and fallow management can also be accessed and downloaded from the same web site.
This site also houses the electronic discussion list on soil fertility and fallow management. The discussion list is in its take-off stage and is moderated by the project staff. At the moment, the list could be used as an avenue for topics on soil fertility and fallow management. List members are also encouraged to post related announcements, call for papers and updates. For more information on the list, please refer to the article on “Fallow Discussion List…” on the back cover page.
Databases
Aside from printed materials and the electronic discussion list, the project is also developing databases on the following:
Directory of concerned individuals, organizations and institutions on soil fertility and fallow management in Southeast Asia
Annotated list and photos of fallow species, occurrence, environmental requirements, specific management practices or technologies
Compilation of references for fallow systems and soil fertility technologies with complete citation of abstracts of the papers.
Annotated list of ongoing research on fallow systems and soil fertility management in Southeast Asia
By providing the most needed information and avenues for exchanging ideas on soil fertility and fallow management, the project can help strengthen linkages among those involved in alleviating poverty among upland farming communities in Southeast Asia. Ð