The project covers rice, corn, and coconut considering that 79% of arable land area in the country is devoted to these crops, and that majority of smallholder farmers follow the subsistence mode of farming. There has been little value-adding activities done in the country for these crops despite their high production. Such value-adding activities come from demands of the market and are possible solutions to increase the income of farmers.
The project will characterize and establish the typology of rice, corn, and coconut farmers/farm households, and the ideal farm-to-market linkage in the country. It will assess the existing marketing systems associated with these three types of farms, and will determine the key-constraints that hinder subsistence farms from becoming market-oriented. Benchmarking of the best practices in farm-to-market linkage will be undertaken wherein some projects under the DA-BAR’s National Technology Commercialization Program (NTCP) will be evaluated. The project will document examples and case studies of some of the best practices identified. In the end, the research will provide evidence-based policy recommendations that will set the stage for upscaling best practices on farm-to-market linkage and lay the foundation for the transformation of subsistence farms into commercial farms with higher value products.
The 16-month long project is headed by Dr. Prudenciano U. Gordoncillo, a professor from the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics (DAAE) under the College of Economics and Management (CEM) in UPLB. (Anne Pastolero)