Adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers to manage Fusarium wilt of bananas in the Philippines

This paper examined the adaptive capacity of Cavendish smallholder farmers affected by Fusarium wilt (FW) in Davao Region [Philippines]. A farm-level survey was conducted amongst 421 randomly selected farmers from Davao Region's four provinces. Exploratory and regression-based analytics were used to examine farmers' socio-demographic profiles, farm characteristics and assess the adaptive behaviour of the respondents' socio-ecological and economic capacity. Several indicators of adaptive capacity were used including severity, problem confrontation, and resilience-building adaptive strategies (REBAS) indexes. Authors also considered respondents' livelihood capitals and their on-farm practices to manage FW following avoidance, exclusion, eradication, protection, resistance, and therapy (hereafter known as AEEPRT). The respondents' perceived that their entrepreneurial skills, physical wellbeing, risk due to unstable export price, vulnerability to climate change was very high. A low perception was expressed on the advocacy and farming support/assistance from the government and their business partners, and access to credit. On the on-farm practices to manage PD, high problem was observed for sourcing clean planting materials, attendance to growers meeting, fallowing, leaving the infected bananas to rot and die, and use of biocontrol measures. For the household food insecurity, majority of respondents expressed concerns of not having enough food to eat due to financial difficulties. The findings highlight the importance of partnerships and support of government and private agencies and the need to intensify capacity-building and training to improve the adaptive capacity and hence the uptake of AEEPRT. Appropriate policy-framework is imperative to increase and rehabilitate production areas, strengthen marketing, support smallholder farmers, and manage pests and diseases. Moreover, alternative livelihood training and other skills development are essentials to prepare farmers to withstand the impact of pest infestation, disease infection and calamities but also achieve an inclusive growth for all stakeholders in the future.