The Looming Destruction of a Paradise on Earth: Monocropping in Palawan
Landscapes of Palawan (TGP, 2020)
Palawan is an island renowned for its spectacular landscape and natural abundance. It is often referred to as the ‘last ecological frontier of the Philippines’, with natural resources and endemic species that cannot be found anywhere else in the planet. According to lawyers from the Environmental Legal Assistance Center, exploitation that has been witnessed on other islands in the country has not yet reached the shores of Palawan; however, due to its seemingly endless supply of natural resources, the island has become a target for damaging industries, including monocropping corporations looking to make fast money.
Monocropping is an agricultural practice that has become increasingly popular in Palawan, which involves wide-scale clearing of land to cultivate the same crop in the same place for years on end, replacing natural vegetation with a single crop. Most often, such plantations have focused on crops like oil palm, hybrid coconut, mahogany, or gmelina, and the practice can be associated with the degradation of natural landscapes, soil quality, and even livelihood of local farmers.
The Case of Oil Palm Monocrop Farming
Oil Palm in Palawan (PPGIS, 2010)
Planting only one crop depletes soil nutrients due to the loss of the beneficial and necessary microbes once present within the soil along with other animals in the ecosystem. Oil palm is also well-known for its dependence on fertilisers and pesticides, and the regular use of such chemicals also contribute to reducing soil fertility. Unfortunately, rather than serving as a deterrent, the likelihood of reduced soil fertility merely serves to drive companies to find even more land to convert and exploit. Moreover, the use of chemical inputs are known to immensely contribute to climate change through the production of greenhouse gases, resulting in adverse health impacts on farmers and consumers, and even lead to contamination of local water supply.
In addition, industries like monocropping plantations have also contributed to the continuation of the discrimination and marginalisation of indigenous communities throughout the Philippines since its colonisation in 1565. Some oil palm plants have faced backlash for encroaching on indigenous ancestral lands, and while they have recognized this, no adjustments have been done to change their operations. An article by the Stockholm Environment Institute (2014) stated that their operations continue to encroach on burial grounds and destroy critical flora used by native doctors and used by local communities. The Department of Environmental and Natural Resources (DENR), alongside the National Council on Indigenous People (NCIP), revealed that there have been multiple occurrences in which Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) from local indigenous communities were only attained mid-project, bringing to light that oil palm operations have infringed on ancestral land without the required permission. This is often done through middlemen and influential pressures placed on indigenous communities. In Palawan, 3 companies have already developed 15,000 hectares of land for oil palm production, with another 5,000 hectares to go.
While this is not an exhaustive list of the adverse impacts of monocropping, it is evidently one of the biggest threats to Palawan’s local ecosystems.
The Social Need
Farmers, particularly small family farmers, are among the poorest groups in the country, with 30% of farmers and their families living below the poverty threshold, and they are very vulnerable to these rising costs. Some smallholder farmers are unable to make a profit and often resort to borrowing from loan sharks at punitive interest rates to pay for fertiliser. This crisis has contributed to the rise of monocropping as smallholder farmers buy-in to the miracle “get-rich-quick crop” marketing scheme of monocrop plantations. Unfortunately, farming cooperatives that work for companies like Augmil (AGPI), are forced to take out loans and use land titles as collateral. It is estimated that half of the cooperatives working for AGPI are unable to make the scheduled payments, forcing them to take out more loans from AGPI, which come at an estimate of 14% interest rate. However, these loans still do not cover these gaps and the burden to make interest payments is on the cooperatives who are barely making ends meet as it is.
On the other hand, from a consumer’s perspective, a study by World Food Program (WFP) (2022) found that agricultural households are twice as likely to be food insecure compared to non-agricultural households. The same study has further found that food insecurity has continued to worsen over recent years, with food prices having increased 10.2% per year, while farmers’ incomes have remained the same. This has caused 74% of agricultural households to turn to livelihood coping strategies, such as reducing health and education expenses or taking children out of school in order to keep their families and households afloat and an unfortunate 41% of agricultural households have had to resort to severe coping strategies, such as selling seed stock and land, both of which are essential for long-term family income.
There is a need to invest and promote more sustainable alternatives and other initiatives, such as subsidies and capacity building efforts, that would encourage local farmers to pursue more sustainable farming techniques, like the adoption of indigenous crop production strategies.
To slow the advancement of monocropping in Palawan and protect the ecological frontier and the people that live there, lawyers from the ELAC advocate that “‘income and care must be balanced”. One possible way to kick start this process is to provide subsidies to small family farmers, giving incentive to continue their work on an individual level rather than to join the movement of monocropping. The subsidised income would relieve farmers from having to resort to livelihood coping strategies and increase their production through the purchasing of new technology while reducing the time needed to do so. Overall, government subsidies would begin the process of farmers in Palawan living a more sustainable economic life.
The agriculture sector accounts for 22.5% of the country’s total employment, as of 2022. However, currently, small family farmers contribute little to overall economic growth in the country because of their precarious financial situation. Providing sustainable ways for them to increase production and sell more goods will give them the means to purchase more manufactured goods from outside the community and contribute to overall economic growth. As stated previously, subsidies would allow for farmers to purchase technology to increase production, increasing growth for Palawan and subsequently the Philippines as a whole.
The introduction and adoption of indigenous agricultural practices would also contribute to various national goals of the Philippines. The Philippines’ three-year Agricultural Development Plan for 2023 to 2025 “aims to promote agricultural productivity in the Philippines, with emphasis on rice, corn, [and] high- crops…”. In order to reach this goal, small family farmers must increase their crop production and income. This is possible if the government leads efforts to do so through subsidies and having indigenous leadership teach ways of cultivation, which have been implemented and perfected over thousands of years and that worked sustainably with different aspects of the Philippines’ land and climate. Some of the indigenous systems and strategies that can be utilised are: terracing, crop rotation, mixed cropping, soil fertility management, the sweet potato cropping system, and Payew fields. The three-year agricultural plan is more consistent with these traditional farming techniques than with monocropping because of the plan’s emphasis on production of rice and high-value crops, which are often overlooked by monocropping companies.
The Philippines’ Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) has stated multiple times that the Philippines is committed to “ensuring ecosystems integrity and promoting the country’s obligations on human rights and the rights of its indigenous peoples'' and that the country recognises “the importance of traditional knowledge”. Additionally, through the NDC, the Philippines has committed to a 2.71% reduction in GHG emissions by 2030. As the agricultural sector accounts for 29% of the Philippines’ total GHG emissions. The NDC has also highlighted the agricultural sector for GHG mitigation. Incorporating indigenous agricultural knowledge has the ability to reduce emissions if introduced and utilised properly. The use of indigenous leadership and knowledge to decrease GHG emissions will help improve not only that, but also solidify the statements made by the NDC regarding their support for indigenous communities and respect for their traditional knowledge.
Conclusion
The strategies discussed above are just suggestions that have been raised from various sources. There are many ways that issues such as monocropping and farmers’ wages can be resolved. Strategies, such as those that move family farms towards diversified crop production, perhaps using indigenous production techniques, and away from monocropping would not only help create a more economically sustainable lifestyle for small farmers, but would contribute to overall economic growth and assist with government in attaining several of its commitments including GHG reductions.
It would also help protect the last ecological frontier that is Palawan, with its immense biodiversity. The beauty of Palawan is so vast and unbreakable but it must be remembered that most things seem unbreakable until they are broken-- humans have the responsibility to care for the Earth as it cares for us, with love, respect, and care.
Note: Eloise MacKinnon was an international undergraduate intern from the 2023 Summer Internship Program of Parabukas. This article is her individual contribution to on-going discourse on her chosen environmental issue. Her internship was made possible through the Queen’s Project on International Development (QPID) program of Queen’s University, Ontario, Canada.