Exploratory Study on the Association of Land Tenure System to Farming Household Food Access in Select Barangays in Pigcawayan North Cotabato

Date

5-2018

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Agribusiness Management

College

College of Economics and Management (CEM)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Atty. Cherry Lou Reyes-Nuñez

Committee Member

Faustino Q. Arrienda, II, Rachelle A. Mariano, Agnes T. Banzon, Normito Zapata, Jr.

Abstract

This study was conducted to examine the association of land tenure systems in select barangays in Pigcawayan, North Cotabato on the tenant’s household food accessibility in the context of food security. Specifically, this study aimed to: (a) describe the socio- demographic profile of the tenants, their farms, and the area of study; (b) discuss the current land tenure system in the area; (c) discuss the problems and issues encountered by the tenants in their farm operations; (d) breakdown the allocation of resources; (e) explore the impact of land tenure to household food access, and (f) describe the sustainability of the food access of the households.

Primary data were obtained through survey and focus group discussion on 56 respondents from the barangays Manuangan, Bulu-an, and Bulucaon. Respondents were selected via chain referral or snow ball sampling. Results showed that farmers in the area are generally old with a mean age of 54 years old and a mode of 49, which further reinforces the fact that farmers in the country are getting old. Pigcawayan is generally an agricultural municipality, agriculture is the main source of livelihood of the majority of the residents. However, majority of the farmers in the area are landless, making land tenure a big help for these farmers to have a source of income. The security in the three barangays was relatively different with regards to the presence of rebels. Manuangan and Bulu-an are relatively peaceful as compared to Bulucaon where rebels are more frequently spotted.

Tenure agreements of the respondents are generally done verbally only with only 33.93% of the tenants having a written agreement with their respective landlords. However, this does not affect the confidence in tenure security of the tenants as they do not see any importance in the signing of a formal agreement. This is supported by the fact that landlords cannot evict their tenants forcibly and easily and they are generally bound to transfer tenure rights to the next generation of their current tenants if these tenants can no longer perform the stipulations of their agreement. 87.5% of the tenants in the area are into sharecropping agreement with their landlords, meaning the rent they pay their landlord is a part of their harvest. A modified version of sharecropping is arriendo, wherein tenants are bound to pay their landlords a fixed amount of sacks from their harvest regardless of the volume of their output. This is problematic for farmers especially at times where they experience zero harvest or crop failure.

The tenants’ main problem is the lack of capital for inputs. Tenants are heavily dependent on credit that almost all their farm inputs are sourced through credit. But as helpful as these private creditors are to the farmers, the farmers feel like they are losing a lot through the interest that they are paying for their debt. Given this debt, tenants are obliged to sell their produce to whom they are indebted to. These buyers will also be dictating the price at which the tenants are to sell their produce to.

To test the association of land tenure on food accessibility, chi square test of association was done on land tenure variables (zero harvest payment agreement, confidence in tenancy, range of number of sacks sold, percent payment) and food variables (experience hunger with no money, experience credit for food, and days without enough food). Results showed that at alpha 0.05, there is a significant association between tenure variables “zero harvest payment agreement” and “confidence in tenancy” and food variable days without enough food. While at alpha 0.10, there is a significant association between tenure variables “zero harvest payment agreement” and “confidence in tenancy” and the food variables” experience hunger with no money” and days without enough food”. The significant association simply means that for every change in these land tenure factors, changes also occur in the food variable. However, the extent or direction of these changes was not measured in the analysis. Additionally, even though the tenants can eat three times a day, their access to food can only be sustained by tenants if they are continuously working, especially on the recovery days of their lands, given the fact that their income is only sufficient enough to buy food for their household, but the quality of that food cannot be concluded that it meets the dietary needs of every member of the household. Additional studies must be done to include to nutritional status of the tenants.

Language

English

LC Subject

Land tenure--Philippines, Farm management

Location

UPLB College of Economics and Management (CEM)

Call Number

LG 993 2018 M17 V55

Notes

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Document Type

Thesis

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