UP Mindanao-Landcare-PCAARRD LIFE Program: Site Facilitators as Agents of Change
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, Mindanao contributes greatly to the country's food requirements and national food trade. However, several provinces in the island are the poorest in the country. To respond to this, the University of the Philippines Mindanao and the Landcare Foundation of the Philippines, Inc., with funding from the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development launched the Livelihood Extension through Facilitated Extension (LIFE) Model in South Cotabato, Maguindanao, and Zamboanga Sibugay. The ACIAR Mindanao Agricultural Extension Project developed the LIFE Model to improve farmers’ livelihood by providing sustainable farming technologies and skills, improved marketing practices, and training on post-production and livelihood diversification, among other things. The Program ran from December 2017 to March 2021.
The paper “Roles of Site Facilitators in Improving Farm Income by Vegetable Growing in South Cotabato and Maguindanao, Philippines” by UP Mindanao researchers Kasmira Blaise S. Sigue, Emma Ruth V. Bayogan, Hazel P. Lozada, Anne Shangrila Y. Fuentes, Marvin Louie G. Orbeta, and Joy Angela D. Ignacio published in Acta Horticulturae explored how the two site facilitators in each site functioned as facilitators of change and contributed to the overall success of the LIFE Program.
By the Program’s completion, it has helped organize six farmer groups, produced agricultural instructional videos for farmers during the COVID-19 lockdown, organized fifty-seven training activities across the three sites, and increased annual gross income per farmer based on baseline and endline surveys. The site facilitators functioned as the main agricultural extension agent of the Program and played a vital role in achieving these gains. They served as resource persons during training, hosted community-level activities, and served as focal persons for partner stakeholders such as local government units. By being present in the communities, they gained the trust of the farmers as well as the partner institutions. The paper concludes that having effective site facilitators is essential in establishing trust and rapport among stakeholders engaging in agricultural extension.
Read the full article here: https://www.actahort.org/books/1312/1312_75.htm