Gendering sugarcane farming: understanding the plight of sugarcane block farmers in Batangas, Philippines

In the Philippines, sugarcane farming is perceived to be a male occupation, meaning female smallholder farmers tend to be overlooked by extension and policy. While research on sugarcane farming and production processes has been extensive, there is limited understanding of the impact of gender dynamics in family farmers' day-to-day lived experiences in the Philippines and the implications these have on the sugarcane production process. This paper asks whether and how recognising gender dynamics in sugarcane farming in the Philippines can identify an enabling environment for production and empowerment for family farmers. Using forty semi-structured interviews and four focus group discussions of forty participants from Balayan and Calaca, Batangas, Philippines, the research adopts a transcendental phenomenological approach to reveal the lived experiences of block farm members and implications for the block farm system and sugarcane production. The thematic analysis finds institutionalising the block farm system to have had a considerable impact in terms of the assistance provided by the government to harness the knowledge of the sugarcane family farmers to adapt to the modern technologies provided to them. Additionally, patriarchal views in Filipino society restrict that of female family farmers, particularly those who hold key positions in the sugarcane block farm system.