Vegetable agroforestry in the Philippines: the policy environment and incentives for small landowners

The vegetable-agroforestry system (VAF) is a viable farming entity that integrates vegetables in a tree-based system or vice versa. It offers multiple benefits, including provision of micro - nutrients to the diet of rural communities and enhancement of on-farm biodiversity and environmental sustainability. However, its viability is constrained by various factors, including farmers’ inability to invest in the system, inadequate institutional struc - tures to facilitate information flow, and lack of market incentives. Smallholders, who account for more than 90 percent of farmers and fisher folk, are financially constrained to invest in VAF sys - tem compared with large landholders. Thus policy incentives are needed to stimulate smallholder investments in VAF systems. Incentives should go beyond merely providing technical information. They are most effective as a combination of direct and indirect measures. To determine the extent to which incen - tives exist for smallholders to invest in VAF, an intensive review of key national policies related to tree growing and vegetable production was undertaken (Tables 1 and 2). Local policies and perspectives of farmers and policymakers are also taken account in the discussion below

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