Philippines: Sustainable livelihoods and environment

In line with the Department of Energy’s goal to attain 100% electrification of the Philippines, the Renewable Energy Access for off-grid Communities and Households (REACH) Project aims to reduce the vulnerability of rural poor Filipino communities towards adverse impacts of climate change through enhanced use of renewable energy (RE) sources. This initiative will energize off-grid and underserved households, community-based businesses and community-based organizations, train local RE technicians, and equip vulnerable barangays with disaster risk reduction systems across ten municipalities in Northern Samar. Through innovative, scalable, and sustainable RE technologies and systems, the project hopes to enhance social welfare, disaster resilience and economic growth in these remote areas.

Eastern Samar is one of the poorest regions of the Philippines. It is particularly prone to natural disasters and has a very underdeveloped market system. The Project, funded by New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, believes that cacao farming and processing is a key activity to tackle these challenges and to increase local farmers’ condition.

By investing in cacao production, the Project sets the ambitious objective of increasing the sustainable income of more than 1,000 Eastern Samar farming households, at the same time improving climate and economic resilience. During a three-year period, many key relevant activities will take place, such as capacity building of farmers, delivery of trainings, establishment of agribusiness enterprises and creation of a sustainable, inclusive market.

Global demand for cacao is constantly growing, together with its price, and Eastern Samar is now fully ready to take this opportunity.

The Eastern Samar Province is gradually recovering from the aftermath of the 2013’s devastating typhoon Haiyan, also known as Yolanda in the Philippines. Many sectors show relatively fast growth, but agriculture, which employs a majority of inhabitants, is still slowly recovering.
The successes and experience gained during the first phase of the project, “Making markets work for farmers I (2015 – 2017)” now form the basis of a subsequent phase. The project continues to work towards securing a sustainable system of services in the agriculture sector. The project also focuses on increasing capacities of local producers, and introducing effective coordination and communication tools among farmers and suppliers in the region.
One of these newly established platforms is “Harampang” (meaning “a friendly chat” in Waray Waray) which facilitates dialogue and exchange of views between government agencies, local governments, service providers, farmers’ cooperatives and the private sector.
The project also offers support to young farmers and newly established agricultural holdings that need to register, or gain a licence and certification, to start their business.

A project aiming to restore livelihoods of local farmers affected by typhoon Haiyan was introduced in Eastern Samar in January 2015, in cooperation with Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation and supported by Swiss Solidarity. The project focuses primarily on increasing production and supply of farmers´ products for local and regional markets. This approach, called Market Systems Development, favours connecting local providers over giving direct services and inputs, creating a more sustainable system.
The project has established 77 demonstration plots and equipped 3,000 farmers with skills and knowledge on cultivation of high value crops. The project has also trained 34 local service providers (LSPs) who reached 13,000 farmers in 12 municipalities.
The project also introduced an improved breed of buffalos for the development of dairy products in Eastern Samar. Late in 2016, the radio programme OMG (Oma, Merkado, Gobyerno) launched to serve as a platform to disseminate market information and technical advice and discuss government agricultural policies.