Resources

This is an extensive report of a community appraisal, undertaken as part of a social forestry and upland development programme in Mindoro and Cebu, Philippines. The appraisal focused on two problem areas identified by an earlier rapid appraisal: (i) agricultural production and soil conservation, and (ii) social organisation and conflict. The appraisal team decided information was required on these two areas for the formulation of interventions. Fieldwork methods included community or group meetings, key informant interviews, semi-structured interviews, direct observation and measurement. The findings from the two study sites relating to the two problem areas defined above are presented in detail. On the basis of these findings, recommendations specific to the two study sites are made.

This paper presents agroecosystem analysis as a methodology for dealing with the complex interactions of agriculture and environment, and suggests that they should be understood as holistic systems. In contrast to farming systems research and integrated rural development approaches, the agroecosystem analysis approach developed here can deal with all levels in the hierarchy of agroecosystems, and focuses on trade-offs between different measures of performance. The linkages between agriculture and ecology, and key properties of agroecosystems are discussed. The key concepts and assumptions of agroecosystem analysis are introduced. This method of analysis is best conducted in multidisciplinary workshops. Pattern analysis (across space and time, of flows and decisions) is explained. Further sections deal with agroecosystem design, and technology assessment and development for a variety of situations, including pest management, multiple cropping, agroforestry, crop-livestock polyculture, soil ecology, social forestry, and non-agricultural production. The final section deals with implementation.

This paper establishes models for the collection and analysing of data for the Papua New Guinea Tree Crops Study. Four schemes of rural data collection are distinguished: pure monitoring; research for large-scale projects; research that is participatory and small-scale; and, research that strikes a balance btween the second and third schemes. The paper states that the Papua New Guinea Export Tree Crops Study requires characteristics from all of these schemes and attempts to provide a sythesis of "top down" and "bottom up" approaches for this study.