Research Development and Extension Agenda on the Role of Institutions and Governance for Philippine Upland Agricultural Development in Achieving Food Security

This paper argued that the development of the Philippine uplands can significantly contribute in achieving the country's food security objectives through the role of institutions and governance. This paper analyzed the institutional and governance issues that confront agricultural development in the Philippine uplands by examining the past and present literatures that directly and indirectly affected the efforts to achieve food security at the global and domestic arena. Critical institutional and governance issues (as affected by Philippine laws, policies and programs, particularly the Local Government Code of 1991, the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act, Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, Community Based Forest Management, etc) such as decentralization and multiplicity of agencies, under-investment, lack of institutional capabilities and weak collective action and security of tenure among upland farmers have collectively contributed in the failure of the government to address agricultural development in the Philippine uplands as one of the major options left to achieve food security. This study recommends that Food Security stakeholders should craft an Research Development and Extension ROE agenda that directly support achievement of the food security challenges by providing knowledge and tools to support a policy and institutional environment in which upland agriculture can fully contribute to food security. The RDE design should focus on policies, institutions and governance to improve impacts on the ground in the area of enabling institutions and governance for the upland poor. The proposed ROE should be focused on achieving a more capable, effective and equitable institutional arrangements to strengthen the upland poor's access to rural services, property rights, collective action, and assets to be able to contribute to upland agricultural development and food security.