Socio-economic factors affecting the crop biodiversity of farms in the lowland forest of Subic Bay Freeport Zone [Philippines]

The findings confirm that the Aeta farmers have been practising the multiple-cropping system and prefer to plant more crops because such system would make the crops not susceptible to pests and diseases, it would entail less costs and it would make the farm easy to manage. Aetas were able to adopt and learn ways to manage and operate their farms according to their schedules and their needs. Such farming activities were nevertheless found not to replace but to supplement the hunting and gathering activities of the Aetas. The Aetas consider their farms as ancestral domain and they do not have size limit for such farm. However, since they are mostly engaged in other activities like working as hired labor or involved in ecotourism activities for Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, their farm sizes only range from 0.5 to 1.50 hectares. The crop they grow in their farms are sweet potatoes, cassava, corn, and gabi; and fruit trees like mango, guava, guyabano, banana, papaya, and cashew. The Aeta farmer generally starts planting at the onset of the rainy season which is usually in May. In terms of crop diversity, all the three measures of diversity showed that Aeta's farms are high in biodiversity, with an average computed IQV of 88 percent and an average S of 11 species. The multi-cropping system and farm management practices thus observed were found to fit the Aeta's daily activities, needs, and farm setting. For the regression model, the log-linear model was found to have the best fit with an R square of 81 percent for the IQV model and an R square of 75 percent for the S model. The significant explanatory variables common to both models and have an inverse relationship are involvement to other activities like ecotourism and hired labor and access to credit. Another is household size which has a direct relationship to the level of biodiversity. Other significant explanatory variables for the IQV model which have a direct relationship are capability of the farm, and household income. For the S model, both the tenurial security and age have a negative relationship. The results from the IQV model and S model are not relatively different from each other