P37M Italy-Phl forest project set in Ifugao

By Daniel Codamon

LAGAWE, Ifugao -- This province is beneficiary of a forest improvement project called “The Muyung Project: An intervention to improve deteriorating forest cover and household incomes in upland communities”  funded under the Philippines-Italy Debt for Development Swap Program worth P37,942,540.

The project which has duration of 30 months is being implemented by the provincial government through the Provincial Agriculture and Environment Office covering municipalities of Kiangan, Asipulo, Tinoc and Lamut with their 20 poorest barangays of which beneficiaries are the poor households.

Fifty percent of the beneficiaries come from the master list of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) of the government, 30% from poor households identified by the Community-Based Monitoring System of 2012 but not covered by the 4Ps and the 20% are the non-poor residents of the barangays who like to avail of the services offered by the project especially on reforestation and forest enrichment.     

The project was negotiated by Gov. Denis Habawel Sept. 17, 2013 through a project proposal he submitted which was certified by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan as included in the provincial development investment plan.

According to the SP, this development project will have an impact on environmental protection and poverty alleviation because it involves a high degree of participation by local communities and organizations with high poverty rates.

The project is also appropriate because a recent Department of Environment and Natural Resources Report revealed Ifugao forest loss during the period 1997 to 2003 was estimated at 118.97 hectares or an average of 19.82 hectares per year.

These forest losses are attributed to timber poaching, wild fires, landslides and erosions, forest pests and diseases, kaingin and conversion to settlements which affected water supply in the low lying areas and some of the rice terraces drying up hence abandoned.

Considering these sad facts and figures, there is still hope since throughout Ifugao there exists small pockets of sheltered fertile lands that are fit for agriculture which can be developed to grow high value vegetables through the organic way.

The organic system will ensure the environment is taken cared of to make crop growing sustainable for the next generation and the bare  mountain slopes which are victims of slash and burn farming can be rehabilitated and planted with agro-forest trees to bring more food and income.

Privately-owned forest called the “Muyung” can also be enriched to grow fruit trees, coffee, rattan and timber trees which are raw materials to help revive the dying basketry and woodcarving industry of the province, support fruit processing and increase volume of goods to be traded but more importantly can serve as a valuable watershed. 

The long term objectives of this project are to reduce by 50% after 5-7 years the poverty incidence in the target municipalities by creating opportunities that will generate additional income, stable employment and livelihood during and after the project and increase by 20% the total volume of vegetable and fruit produced in the province.

It shall also reforest and enrich at least 1,000 hectares of land following the traditional “muyung” system of the Ifugaos, provide income generating opportunities in the reforestation activity by providing wages to cooperators, increase food poor household incomes by 70% to a level above the food threshold, provide technology and material support to vegetable farmers under the Food Always in the Home Project