Traditional rice-based agroecosystem in Kiangan, Ifugao, Philippines: drivers of change, resilience, and potential trajectories

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper investigates transformations and trends in a traditional agricultural system in Kiangan, Philippines as a consequence of evolving social-ecological scenarios. For this study, Modified Sustainable Livelihood Framework (MSLF) and Drivers-Pressures-State-Impacts-Responses (DPSIR) framework identified major driving forces in Kiangan social-ecological system (SES) and elucidated relationships and interactions between them. This study however unveiled the highly disturbed state of Kiangan SES and erosion of Ifugao culture and belief systems owing to the ingress of modernization, mind-set change among locals and weak institutional support. In particular, the polytheism to Christianity shift was a causative factor leading to abandonment of traditional rice varieties and farming rituals as well as the transformation of Kiangan upland landscape and its associated biophysical structures. Furthermore, productivity-driven approach to food production also resulted in wide scale agro-biodiversity losses, environmental degradation and cultural erosion. It was nonetheless observed that the Kiangan SES has, as of this time, not yet shifted to an alternative state and is still able to conserve its main features despite pressures to it. Interventions are therefore warranted to redirect the trajectory of Kiangan SES, steer it toward sustainable agricultural development and consequently into its preservation on behalf of the people that depend on it for food and livelihood.