Household shocks and coping mechanisms in Camiguin Province, Philippines

Abstract

Island’s vulnerability is anchored towards stewardship to accommodate environmental conservation and economic activity. Vulnerability poses risk and uncertainty of island households. Household as an important entity plays a role for island development. This study aimed to identify the profile of rural households, evaluate the shocks as well as coping mechanisms employed by the rural households. Stratified random sampling was undertaken to identify the 377 randomly selected samples from the municipalities of Catarman and Sagay in the province of Camiguin, Philippines. The survey was conducted from February to March 2019. Household’s data collected includes age of the respondent, sex of the respondent, household size, household income in range, educational attainment of respondent, farm size, and tenurial status. Respondents were asked to rank the shocks and risks encountered as well as the coping mechanisms. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics. Results revealed that post-harvest losses played a significant role in agricultural shocks while could not buy food due to food price increase as economic shocks. Selling of livestock, land and other assets got the highest rank for mechanisms to cope up with shocks. Improved storage facilities and efficient transport system can be taken into consideration to improve the quality of agricultural products to be marketed inside and outside the island to minimize post-harvest losses.