July 11, 2016
Philippines
Following the global wide response to the biggest typhoon ever recorded on the Earth, super typhoon Haiyan (locally known as Yolanda), Caritas Czech Republic is supporting agri-businesses of small-scale farmers in Samar Island on Philippines, one of the hardest hit area affected by Yolanda.
Caritas Czech Republic together with Visayas State University has released the study Rice and Vegetable Value Chains Affecting Small-Scale Farmers in the Philippines showing the situation of farmers in the districts of Basey and Marabut, two of the target areas of humanitarian and later on development interventions of Caritas Czech Republic effort to help people affected by Yolanda super typhoon.
Study is revealing devastating scale of the super typhoon Yolanda on the livelihoods of farmers, which are mostly dependant on their income from paddy rice fields and other vegetable crops found only locally. The study is trying to explore market linkages for farmers to meet local demands and to act directly with the consumers and suggests particular composition of their cash crops for the best utilization.
Caritas Czech Republic is active in Samar island since November 2013 when super typhoon Yolanda destroyed hundreds of island in the eastern region of Visayas archipelagos of the Philippines. Caritas Czech is providing vegetable seeds, gardening tools and trainings on more effective rice cultivation for hundreds of farmers in Basey and Marabut districts.
The study Rice and Vegetable Value Chains Affecting Small-Scale Farmers in the Philippines has been organized with the financial assistance of the Czech Development Agency, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, and the European Commission as part of the project Teaching Eco Fair Trade – an innovative approach to integrate the right to food to university lectures in Europe aiming for better collaboration among European NGOs and universities across the world in the field of Right to Food.
The study in English is available here.
Information about the work of Caritas Czech Republic in the Philippines are available here (Czech/English).
