Farmers' participation in the upland development programme in selected communities of South Cotabato, Philippines

Results of the study showed that the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents related to the degree of farmer's participation to the program in planning and conceptualization activities were educational attainment, religion, tribe groupings, farming experience, tenure status, and farm size. Family size, educational attainment, annual income, and farm size were socio-economic factors related to the degree of farmers' participation in the implementation activities of the program. Educational attainment and farm size were related to the degree of participation in monitoring and evaluation. The organizational affiliation of respondents like type of organizational membership, and position in the organization were found significantly related to the degree of participation in planning and conceptualization, implementation and monitoring and evaluation activities. The number of years in the organization was negatively significant to the degree of farmers' participation in the monitoring and evaluation activities. Psycho-Social characteristics of the farmer-beneficiaries such as their perception and attitude towards UDP [upland development programme] were found significantly related to the degree of their participation in the planning and conceptualization, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation activities. Most of the respondents had a moderate participation in the planning and conceptualization activities and high participation in the implementation activities but low in monitoring and evaluation. The degree of farmers' wives participation in planning and conceptualization activities was low; in the implementation activities moderate; and in monitoring and evaluation low. The most common reason for farmers to participate in the development activities of the UDP was to obtain more economic benefit from the program. The main problem raised regarding their participation to UDP was the delayed fulfillment of UDP of a promised project