This project aimed to develop a decision support system for regional agricultural research managers as they prioritize activities. Questions like, how much should be spent in what commodity, in which area, by whom, are popular in the decision making process. The case region is Cagayan Valley (Region II) as barangay level data were available in this region.
Three steps are involved in the agricultural research prioritization procedure: 1) spatial targeting of research program; 2) translating farmer constraints into research themes; and 3) prioritizing research options. Characterizing biophysical and socioeconomic environments was done by the use of the Geographic Information System (GIS). Farmers’ constraints were identified via a farmer survey, as well as by key informant discussions with the scientists, extensionists, and through a review of related literature. Prioritizing research options was done by the application of benefit cost analysis.
The biophysical characterization identified five agricultural production environments in the region namely: undulating lowlands, broadplains, hillylands, highlands and coastal areas. The research themes as mentioned by the farmers and others were grouped into the following: soil related theme, pest related theme, cultural practices, and post harvest practices. The mandate of the regional research is adaptive research and hence, this was taken into account in the identification of research themes.
The results indicate that scientists and farmers have similar level of understanding with respect to the production related constraints especially in rice and corn. However, cultural practices production constraints were identified by farmers more than by scientists in bananas and mangoes. As expected, farmers were more concerned about the state of their natural resources as a production constraint rather than the technology per se. Results also indicate that addressing the soils constraints will give much more benefits than the other more expensive technologies such as the post harvest facilities. Rice in the broad plains is still a profitable investment in terms of soil related research. Cultural practices’ improvement will be profitable in mango and banana farms. Resource allocation analysis also revealed that the complementary human resources in the region are not proportional to the research needs. There is a lack of scientists doing soil and pest related research.
Other regions in the Philippine may also see a need for this type of research prioritization exercise. With the hardware and software for GIS now readily available as well as the software for the economic analysis; and the data just about sorted out and mapped, this exercise will be feasible in the short term.
