In a media seminar workshop co-organized by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security in South East Asia (CCAFS-SEA) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) from 14-15 August 2014, sweetpotato caught the attention of the participants, mostly agricultural journalists and broadcasters in the Philippines.
Image Source: It’s More FUn in Albay Blog
Eating sweetpotato, more fun in the Philippines?
Until recently, sweetpotato, “camote” to the Filipinos, has been an undervalued crop. Some participants at the media workshop shared anecdotes related to sweetpotato. One journalist recalled that whenever he got low scores, his grade school teacher would say, “You should go home and just plant camote.” Another participant said that he associates camote with poverty. During his childhood, when they could not afford rice, they only had sweetpotato for their meals. These are common misperceptions about sweetpotato in the Philippines – the crop is “lowly” and often associated with underperforming, incompetent students.
Representing CIP during the media forum was Dr. Julieta Roa, a collaborating researcher of CIP-FoodSTART. She was also the former director of Philippine Root Crop Research and Training Center (PhilRootcrops), CIP’s national program partner in the Philippines. Dr. Roa enumerated several cases in the country where sweetpotato had played a crucial role in disaster recovery. CIP’s presentation gave the participants a clearer understanding of the importance and uses of sweetpotato – for both nutrition and food security.
Sweetpotato takes center stage in disaster situations
As the other PMCA/MarketLink pilot area, CIP, PhRootcrops-VSU and local partners established sweetpotato as a critical staple food base for disaster-readiness. Different MarketLink activities were conducted to improve farmers’ livelihoods and incomes through value-added interventions to sweetpotato with products such as sweetpotato muffins, noodles, doughnuts, flour-based products, pastries, ice-cream, fresh roots packs, even handicrafts from dried SP vines. Consumer awareness was carried out through exhibits in Agri-Fiesta and Magayon festivals, and fashion show food feature, in addition to media promotion and advocacy. The program undoubtedly aided the province of Albay to be more resilient to natural and economic vulnerabilities. The provincial leadership of Albay is now proactive in making sweetpotato an important food crop for climate-smart agriculture, especially since Bicol is in the path of a major typhoon.
Sweetpotato wine and fresh roots complete with labels and packaging from Albay province
Super Typhoon Yolanda (November 2013)
The strongest tropical cyclone in recorded history to hit the Philippines left the country with some 6,300 deaths and 31 billion pesos (708.3 US dollars) damage to the agriculture sector. Eastern Visayas, the home of CIP’s national program partner Visayas State University-PhilRootcrops, was severely hit. PhilRootcrops led or cooperated in the short-term response to the typhoon-stricken communities. Beneath the fallen coconut trees, or in open fields and on slopes, sweetpotato survived. Communities with fresh roots available did not have such severe food crises as those without. Sweetpotato served as local food supply until the relief efforts arrived.
Sweetpotato planting materials for distribution to households affected by the typhoon (Photo by:PhilRootcrops)
Distribution of sweetpotato planting materials in Southern Leyte after an orientation-appreciation symposium on RTCs for food security, livelihoods, and climate-smart farming (Photo by: PhilRootcrops)
CIP and PhilRootcrops targeted the victims of volcanic eruptions and typhoons from the provinces of Tarlac in Central Luzon and Albay in the Bicol Region as program beneficiaries. The multi-partnership program “Enhancing Research Utilization through Sweetpotato Livelihood Development in Disaster-Prone Communities” adapted the Participatory Market Chain Approach (PMCA) – the R&D method developed by CIP to stimulate innovation along market chains by enhancing stakeholder collaboration and level of trust. Known as the MarketLINK (i.e. Philippine adaptation), the program aimed to: (a) improve sweetpotato productivity and farm incomes of resource-poor farmers; and (b) address food insecurity by applying research outputs in exploiting market opportunities, and by training local partners in business development through the PMCA process . Interventions include]: supplying sweetpotato clean planting materials (CPM), improving farmer production practices, postproduction and processing innovations, as well as promoting sweetpotato diversity. Social marketing was an integral component, designed to change the negative attitude of many consumers regarding camote. The activities were carried out in international and local exhibits, agri-fairs and festivals, symposia, and even fashion shows, promoting sweetpotato products for health and nutrition, and livelihoods. The program was funded by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD) from 2009 to 2012.
Mount Pinatubo Eruption (June 1991)
After the eruption, sweetpotato production areas were greatly reduced. A complex of sweetpotato viruses spread through all sweetpotato areas in Central Luzon; resulting in decreased yield and incomes among mostly smallholder farmers. Confronted with this situation, the program promoted the use of tissue-culture-generated clean planting materials (CPM) from Tarlac College of Agriculture (TCA); and C2 generation plantlets were produced by Mayantoc Cooperative as a CPM enterprise. CPM was used to develop off-season camote production in 14 lahar-laden ‘barangays’ [communities] of Concepcion, Tarlac; which then become sources of C3-C4 generation CPM for farmers in Tarlac, Bataan, and Pampanga. By the end of the project in 2012, the virus challenge had been dealt with; thus increasing the yield to at least 20 tons/ha, and incomes to at least 100% among adopters. Virus indexing was done by the Institute of Plant Breeding-University of the Philippines Los Banos (IPB-UPLB) using the CIP Elisa kit.
Using the PMCA/MarketLink platform, the program helped farmers and local entrepreneurs to identify market opportunities, and set up SP micro-enterprises, by providing training on processing and business aspects. The start-up value chains, such as sweetpotato wine, vinegar, candy, jam, fresh roots and flour-based products, require further business development services to improve facilities, packaging, and supply chain, if production and markets are to be sustained.
Mayon Volcano Eruption and Super Typhoon “Reming” (November 2006)
When the volcanic eruption had calmed down and the evacuees had returned to their homes, Typhoon Reming (Durian) swept across the Bicol, dislodging volcanic debris and causing mudslides that killed about 1,000 residents.
In Albay, in particular, farms, properties, and lives were lost; hunger was rife and livelihoods seriously destroyed. The agriculture sector was devastated; even sweetpotato was greatly reduced due to the hot volcanic flows. Early in 2007, the local leadership of Albay turned to mass growing of sweetpotato as buffer food during this crisis situation: three truckloads of planting materials of hybrids were shipped from PhilRootcrops-Visayas State University in Leyte. During the 2009-2012 PCAARRD-funded sweetpotato program, sweetpotato nurseries (with a total of 240,942 cuttings) were established by the provincial local government unit (LGU) in eight towns and three cities of Albay to provide quality planting materials for food, as well as livelihoods. After few months, ca. 256,700 sweetpotato vine cuttings were distributed to home gardens, LGU nurseries, Farmer Field School (FFS) demo sites and pilot school gardens in Albay.
Sweetpotato, the lone survivor among local crops after Typhoon Haiyan (Photo by: PhilRootcrops)
With the livelihoods and incomes of the typhoon victims badly affected, root crops, especially sweetpotato, were planted in coconut farm systems as part of the medium-term response. Sweetpotato and cassava planting materials were distributed to households by the LGUs, Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), Red Cross, and the Department of Agriculture, both for food and income. This posed a shortage in root and tuber crops (RTC) planting materials. To address this, VSU-PhilRootcrops and some LGUs north and south of Leyte Island province developed RTC nurseries in their stations and selected farmer-cooperators to supply continuing needs, and for disaster mitigation. Some local executives also support value-added RTC processing for income generation. VSU-PhilRootcrops leads the activities on monitoring, status of RTCs, planting material distribution, nurseries, capacity-building and nutrition awareness, and advocacy.
Participants of CCAFS-SEA media workshop piloting in the Philippines
Evidence strengthened support from media on climate change reporting
After presenting the outcomes of evidence-based action research and the roles of RTCs in climate change situations, the media group created clamor and anticipation on new stories of successes and breakthroughs of sweetpotato and other RTCs as super foods and resilient crops. Appreciation of the media’s role in disseminating accurate climate change information was emphasized. Dr. Leo Sebastian, CCAFS Regional Program Leader for South East Asia, posed a challenge to the participants: “You have to make sure that our message creates outcomes and impact.”
The media event was instrumental in making the practitioners realize the importance of root and tuber crops. The workshop was also tailored to highlight the roles and contributions of each CG center in adapting and mitigating climate change. The organizers will replicate the media workshop across South East Asia, particularly in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Besides CIP-Philippines, other research centers such as IRRI, World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF) and WorldFish shared their programs and activities on climate change and agriculture. In addition, representatives from the Philippine government (Department of Agriculture and Department of Science and Technology) and NGOs (Catholic Media Network and Redraw the Line-Media Alliance) also imparted their own work and initiatives on climate change.