Considered the world’s largest employer, the agriculture and food production sector is vital in poverty reduction and sustainable development. It manifests a strong link between poverty and environment as many Filipinos remain dependent on agriculture, forestry, livestock, and fisheries for their livelihoods, thereby causing enormous pressure on the sector while diminishing and degrading natural resources (Aquino et al., 2014).
Globally, agriculture is a significant source of the world’s greenhouse gases with emissions coming from synthetic fertilizers, agricultural machineries, and fuel. In the Philippines, agriculture emissions increased 13.19 MtCO2e from 1990 to 2012. Unsustainable agricultural practices under an intensive and industrialized approach have also contributed to unwanted consequences to the environment, such as biodiversity loss, water insecurity, pesticide-related deaths, soil and water pollution, and reduction of genetic diversity in crops (United States Agency for International Development, 2016; Mateo-Sagasta et al., 2017).
Researcher: Charles Van T. Miraflores and Athena Mari E. Son