Smallholder Tree Growing in Philippine Back Yards: Homegarden Characteristics in Different Environmental Settings

Abstract

Although Asian homegardens have received fair scientific attention, the Philippine homegardens form an exception to this rule. The objective of this chapter is to explore the dynamics and diversity of 57 homegardens (size: 0.07–0.13ha) in five villages in the Cagayan Valley. Of the 155 plant species in total (>312 if including ornamentals), 71 are tree species. When moving from forested uplands to densely populated lowlands, homegardens become more diverse, better structured and higher in plant density. Likewise, they show increasing differentiation towards tree crop mixtures with Mangifera indica (mango) and Moringa oleifera (horse raddish), non-tree crop mixtures with Solanum melongena (eggplant) and Colocasia olotorius (cocoyam) or Ipomoea batatas (sweet potato), and livestock for selling purposes. Farmers’ most important reasons for having homegardens refer to household consumption. Yet, the selling of excess crops and livestock products is of increasing importance as income from farms decreases (due to smaller sizes and lower soil fertility) being eventually inadequate to meet households’ cash needs. Garden products generate US$281 ± 944 per hectare (median: US$130) – or US$73 ± 123 per homegarden (median: US$27) – at minimal or no input costs. The annual gross income from gardens with livestock is higher, i.e., US$115 ± 72 per household (median: US$98).Yet, corn (major cash crop of farm fields) yields a much higher gross income, i.e., US$676 ± 336 per hectare per year with inputs varying from US$137 (without fertilizer) to US$250 (with) per hectare per cropping cycle.