Economic World LEDC Case Study.

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Economic World LEDC Case Study.

• Wet Rice Farming in the Philippines.

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What do you need to know?

• Where is your case study?
• What is the climate like there?
• What is farming life like in the Philippines?
• How has the government influenced farming in the
  Philippines?
• Give specific examples of two farms.

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Location
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Location

• A group of islands north of Indonesia, SE of
  China.
• Climate average temp of 25 degrees C and 1800mm
  of rain of which 80 falls June-December often
  during tropical storms.
• Population of 70 Million, 70 of which are
  farmers.

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Farming in the Philippines

• Mostly subsistence farming, many do not own their
  own land.
• Rent is paid by giving a proportion of the crop
  grown.
• Average farm size 1.5-2 hectares.
• Ever increasing urban populations have to be fed
  with imported rice.

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How has the government influenced farming life?

• Since 1970s the Filipino government has been
  trying to introduce high yielding varieties of
  rice which require fertilisers (the Green
  Revolution).
• Poor farmers can not afford this so only richer
  farmers benefited.
• More recent research has been crossing more
  traditional varieties with faster growing ones
  with some success.

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Case Study examples

• Two different farms need to be learnt for
  intensive wet rice farming.
• These are located on Negros Occidental on the
  Philippines.
• Be aware of the key differences between the 2
  farms
• - Maximo Casiendo
• - The Flora Community

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Maximo Casiendo
Farm Size 2.6 hectares.
Farm Organisation 1 family (9 people), mainly subsistence, some left for sale.
Soil Clay loams.
Relief Flat, fertile land, 70m above sea level.
Chemicals/inputs 7-8 bags of nitrogen, 3 bags of NPK per hectare, 2 bags of PK per hectare. Pesticides 2 litres per hectare. Owns a rice thresher a carabao (water buffalo) is hired.
Outputs Rice, maize, some vegetables cassava (root veg). 2 crops a year.
Yield 100 cavans per hectare.
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The Flora Community
Farm Size 86 hectares.
Farm Organisation 76 workers, mainly subsistence, some left for sale. Organic farming.
Soil Sandy loams.
Relief Flat, river plains.
Chemicals/inputs Organic farming- weeds controlled by crop rotation, insects controlled by strategies such as predators. Nitrogen fixing aquatic plants. Hilabangan river for water to irrigate land.
Outputs Sugar cane, high value vegetables for sale. Rice for the community. Average 2.5 crops a year.
Yield 100 cavans per hectare.
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Classifying the 2 farms

• Maximo Casiendo intensive, subsistence, arable.
• The Flora Community- extensive, subsistence,
  organic, arable.

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• You are comparing the practices of these
  intensive farming systems with those of a farm in
  the EU (Home Farm, Birmingham). This will be
  looked at in the next revision session.